PM Schoof to defend asylum crisis plans in second day of budget debate

Prime Minister Dick Schoof will have to explain the proposed asylum crisis law to parliament on the second day of the budget debate, called the General Political Considerations. This intention led to a lot of commotion during the first day of the debate. Coalition party NSC, in particular, had a hard time.

The Cabinet wants to suspend part of the Aliens Act by means of a royal decree, but in doing so, it bypasses the Tweede Kamer and Eerste Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament and the Dutch Senate. Parliament will only be able to vote on the matter after three months, but stricter measures will be implemented immediately and be in force all that time.

Opposition parties do not understand why the Cabinet is choosing this option. They point out that the government itself has let things get out of hand in asylum reception and that there is no question of a crisis situation like a flood or war, for example. They criticize the fact that the Cabinet is bypassing parliament for this. Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA) suspects that the Cabinet is doing this because it does not have majority support for its plans in the Eerste Kamer.

The Tweede Kamer will also try to do business with the Cabinet to reverse certain cutbacs. The scope for this seems limited. The four coalition parties were all unenthusiastic about VAT increases but, at the same time, offered no room to reverse them. Ways to pay for this, such as higher excise duties on e-cigarettes or tax on the purchase of shares, are always a sensitive issue in the coalition.

The coalition parties PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB got through the first day of the debate without major problems and without outright attacking each other. However, interim NSC leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven came under heavy fire and struggled to get through the debate. There’s also one more day of debating left to go.

Opposition parties attacked Van Vroonhoven especially on the Cabinet’s plan to bypass parliament with the asylum crisis law. They found it incomprehensible that the NSC, which prides itself on its constitutional conscience, is choosing this route. NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt, who is currently sick at home, previously spoke out strongly against such emergency legislation.

Van Vroonhoven defended the choice by saying that the Cabinet must come up with a “supported motivation” before the “emergency button” will get pressed. She trusts, above all, that the NSC Ministers will guard the boundaries of good governance in the Cabinet. The opposition parties ridiculed her: “You are not worth a dime if you let this pass.”

Van Vroonhoven was visibly struggling and became increasingly irritated during the debate. She spoke frequently before the chair had given her a turn, and she told the Kamer not to talk over her. She was also annoyed that the crisis law was discussed for so long. “Guys, guys, when will we be done?” she sighed irritably. Her coalition partners will not come to her aid.

Today, the debate will continue with Prime Minister Schoof. The last time Schoof debated government policy with the Tweede Kamer, just before the summer recess, PVV leader Geert Wilders called the Prime Minister’s defense of PVV Minsiters “weak stuff.” And PVV Minister Fleur Agema tweeted about headscarves during the debate, causing VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz and Wilders to clash and leaving Schoof in an awkward position. Yeşilgöz accused Wilders of being behind the social media post, which Wilderes called a “dirty, false” accusation. The coalition leaders have agreed to not let things get that far again. They also agreed to meet more often to improve relations, but that has not happened yet.