Dutch foreign minister says asylum flows cannot be sustained indefinitely

The migration problem is getting bigger by the day, CDA party leader Wopke Hoekstra said on Saturday at the CDA party congress. "The current numbers are simply not sustainable," he said. According to Hoekstra, a "firm approach" is needed "that is both European and national."

First and foremost, the reception must be chosen in the region. In addition, agreements must be respected that the asylum process must be completed in the member state where the refugee arrives. "Without this agreement, the asylum policy remains flawed and we will not restore the order needed to receive real refugees," Hoekstra said.

The Dutch Foreign Minister reiterated that the CDA had called for a "strict physical European external border like fences," to be paid for by the European Union. "This cannot be the responsibility of individual countries at the external border. In this, we in Europe must all act together."

A strict, just and merciful migration policy is not a contradiction, Hoekstra said, "as the parties on the flanks of the left and right would have us believe."

The Dutch Foreign Minister was , like CDA chairman Pieter Heerma at the party conference, deeply concerned about the increasing polarization in society. "In the political debate, the contradictions are magnified," he stated. Not only on the topic of migration, but on many issues. "You're either pro-farmers or pro-nature. Or for nuclear power or for wind power. For Europe or against Europe."

He finds it reprehensible that opposites are deliberately exaggerated politically "to increase polarization. That is politics in its purest form." According to the CDA party leader, the Netherlands cannot be governed "with one-liners or tweets." They are rhetorical texts that lead to nothing but more division." Sad, Hoekstra thinks.