The Netherlands is planning measures to limit immigration



The Dutch government announced today that it plans to implement a series of measures in the coming months to curb immigration , including a moratorium on all new asylum applications, days after Germany decided to expand checks to all its borders.

The new government, led by Geert Wilders' nationalist, anti-Islam PVV party, has said it will declare a national asylum crisis, which would allow it to take steps to curb immigration without the consent of parliament.

Opposition parties question the necessity, even legality, of the move, but Immigration Minister Marjolaine Faber (from the PVV) said she was acting on the basis of the possibilities provided by the country's immigration laws.

"We are taking steps to make the Netherlands as unattractive as possible for asylum seekers," she said in a statement today.

The government has confirmed it aims to seek an exemption for the Netherlands from European asylum rules, although Brussels is likely to push back because EU countries have already adopted the New Deal on Migration and Asylum and exemptions are usually discussed in negotiation phase.

"We have adopted laws, one cannot choose to opt out of approved EU legislation, this is a general principle," Commission spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters today about a possible Dutch opt-out.

In one of its first actions, the Dutch government said it would end the granting of open-ended asylum permits and severely limit the ability of those who have been granted asylum to be reunited with their families. It will also begin drafting a law that would suspend all decisions on new applications for up to two years, while also curtailing the facilities offered to asylum seekers.

Wilders won last year's election, promising to impose the strictest immigration laws in the EU. He managed to form a government with three other parties in May, but only after abandoning the idea of ​​becoming prime minister. The government is headed by Dick Schoof, an unelected, former top civil servant who does not come from any party.

Like neighboring Germany, the Netherlands says it will impose stricter border controls to combat human trafficking and irregular immigration.

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