Crisis
talks? Coalition party leaders to finalise asylum plans
October 23,
2024
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/10/crisis-talks-coalition-party-leaders-to-finalise-asylum-plans/
The leaders
of the four coalition parties are meeting with prime minister Dick Schoof on
Wednesday afternoon in an effort to reach a deal on reducing the number of
refugees coming to the Netherlands.
The big
question, say analysts, is will Geert Wilders, leader of the far right PVV,
agree to drop his demand that the situation be declared an official crisis,
which would allow the cabinet to bypass parliament and bring in new laws.
Civil
servants and legal experts have warned there is not enough evidence to back up
claims that there is a crisis, and coalition party NSC is opposed to any
attempt to ignore the upper and lower house of parliament.
Wilders and
acting NSC chief Nicolien van Vroonhoven have been meeting over the past two
days to discuss the stalemate, and VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz and the BBB’s
Caroline van der Plas are due to join them from 4 pm on Wednesday.
Both told
reporters on Tuesday they did not know what direction the talks are taking.
Analysts
have said that the risk of a cabinet crisis, or even the coalition’s collapse,
does now appear to have been averted and that Wilders has shown a more
conciliatory tone in recent days.
Schoof
himself told reporters on Monday that “various options are on the table,
including the emergency legislation”.
The
ministers responsible for asylum – mainly the PVV’s Marjolein Faber – are set
to rubber stamp the solution at Friday’s cabinet meeting and have been
sidelined during the current talks.
The
so-called asylum crisis is largely down to the shortage of housing and refugee
numbers are well below official forecasts. The total number of applicants in
2024 is on course to reach 50,000 this year, the same as in 2022 and 2023.
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