Tighter border controls harm trade and cannot stem asylum seeker influx, experts say

The new government wants to introduce more border surveillance and stricter border controls to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers. However, experts and business and trade organizations such as VNO-NCW, Transport en Logistiek Nederland, and Ecofenedex are critical of the plans and see them as a disaster for the Dutch economy, de Telegraaf reports.

Due to the rapid transportation of people and goods, the Netherlands is known throughout Europe as an export and transit country. However, tightened border control measures could end this economic reputation, according to experts.

Tighter border controls, in particular to combat people and drug smuggling, mean waiting, which ultimately leads to traffic jams. The otherwise often smooth trade chain would be disrupted. "Border controls can act like a lowered barrier and lead to long traffic jams. The measure does not achieve the goal of stopping people smuggling, drug importation, and other criminal activities," says Transport and Logistics Netherlands.

Law and economics professor Paul Minderhoud from Utrecht doubts the infrastructural plans to contain asylum seekers. For him, this is merely symbolic politics and points to other EU states, such as Romania and Bulgaria, which introduced these measures and ended in disaster.

Another expert, Evelien Brouwer, who specializes in EU law and border controls, also shares the professor's opinion. She points out that structural or systematic border controls may only be carried out at the EU's external borders. "The reintroduction of internal border controls is only possible in exceptional situations, for example, in the event of an attack, during events such as the European Championships or during a pandemic," she explains to de Telegraaf. But in such cases, this is only temporary and linked to such exceptional situations, she emphasizes.

Brouwer sees no point in tighter border controls to stem the influx of migrants. If the aim is to have fewer asylum seekers in the Netherlands, it is not the Dutch borders that need to be tweaked but European law. "If someone applies for asylum during such a check in the Netherlands, this application simply has to be processed following international and European law," she told the newspaper.