Dutch government eyes emergency laws to curb migration

The Netherlands is looking to use crisis laws to reduce the number of asylum seekers entering the country.

The new government, led by nationalist Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam PVV party, said on Friday it would declare a national asylum crisis to roll back certain laws.

“We are taking measures to make the Netherlands as unattractive as possible for asylum seekers,” Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber said in a statement.

Around 40,000 asylum seekers arrive in the Netherlands every year.

What’s on the agenda?

The Dutch government said it would end the granting of open-end asylum permits and restrict the options of people who have already been granted asylum to reunited with their families.

It would also use a royal decree to enact emergency powers — similar to those used during the COVID-19 pandemic — allowing it to take measures that would normally need to be approved by parliament.

However, this must be legally justified. Some experts have already questioned whether the number of new asylum seekers, which has remained stable, can reasonably be declared a crisis.

The European Union is also likely to push back because member states have already agreed on their migration pact. Opt-outs are usually discussed in the negotiating phase.

“We have adopted legislation, you don’t opt out of adopted legislation in the EU, that is a general principle,” EU spokesperson Eric Mamer told reporters on Friday.