In a sudden move over restrictions for war refugees’ family reunifications, the cabinet of the Netherlands faced a crisis leading to the collapse of the coalition government right before the summer recess.
Update: The Dutch government collapsed on Friday night, which will trigger new elections in the fall.
The crisis was triggered by a push by Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party to limit the flow of asylum seekers to the Netherlands, which two of his four-party government coalition refused to support
The cabinet crisis meeting on Thursday night yielded no results.
Negotiations between the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, Democrats 66, Christian Democratic Appeal and Christian Union about limiting the number of asylum seekers stopped at around 1:45 am last night. And they will continue on Friday with the coalition government’s future at stake.
The crisis started earlier this week when the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which leads the government with its leader Mark Rutte as prime minister, sought to limit family reunification of asylum seekers deemed unacceptable by other coalition members.
The four-party coalition government agrees on introducing a two-status refugee system but not on a quota.
The system, which the parties have been discussing for some time, separates war refugees from people facing risks as a person because they are persecuted for their sexual orientation or political convictions, for instance. The latter can receive a permanent residence permit. War refugees, on the other hand, would receive only a temporary visa until they can return to their home country.
Such a system existed in the Netherlands until 2000, and is still in place in Belgium or in Germany, for example.
But all of a sudden, the VVD now also wants to limit the number of family reunification for war refugees to a maximum of 200 family members per month. Moreover, family members would need to wait at least two years before coming to the Netherlands.
In the face of this sudden move, the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) and the centrist Christian Union strongly disagree with the restrictions. The center-right Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) might be more prone to vote for it.
Christian Union, which sees itself as a “family party,” cannot accept such restriction, party chairman Mirjam Bikker reacted yesterday. And while the CU only has five seats in the House of Representatives and is the smallest party in the coalition, its defection would mean Rutte’s fourth government loses its majority in the Parliament.
But Rutte has been ready to push the measure until threatening the cabinet’s collapse, which some commentators see as a political strategy from the prime minister whose goal remains unclear. In the case of new elections, VVD would remain the favorite at the moment.
Mona Keijzer, a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal and former State secretary in Rutte’s government, in an interview on Op1, found the situation “unbelievable. […] For years people have been drowning in the Mediterranean. For years we have seen asylum seeker centers fill up. And now we are right before the vacations, and Rutte is going to act tough.”
Negotiations will continue and focus on transferring quotas to other categories, such as for migrant workers, foreign students or spouse’s family reunification, for instance. But the proposal and its push may have become a point of no return for the coalition parties to work together in the government.
The Parliament recess starts this Friday, July 7, and work will resume on September 4.
