Cabinet pushing through with declaring asylum crisis, despite opposition concerns

The coalition parties PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB will proceed with emergency legislation in the field of asylum. Opposition parties’ plans to opt for urgent legislation instead, which would not bypass parliament, did not make it: 56 parliamentarians were in favor, and 90 were against.

If the Cabinet continues with emergency legislation, it can bypass parliament. Only after three months at the latest can parliament and the Senate debate the plans, even though they are already in force. That is why the opposition parties wanted the Cabinet to opt for urgent legislation instead. According to them, that is just as fast but with prior approval from parliament.

The theme dominated the budget debate. Coalition party NSC, in particular, faced fierce attacks for it. Acting party chair Nicolien van Vroonhoven explained again on Thursday that she wanted to first see whether emergency legislation was possible. She immediately commented that she had “hard feelings” about it and that she expected the plan to fail in the Council of Ministers. A “supporting motivation” must be found there for the need to introduce emergency legislation. But documents that were sent to parliament on Thursday showed that civil servants had no confidence in this.

The coalition will, therefore, not block the trajectory for emergency legislation for the time being. Still, not only the NSC but also the VVD expressed discomfort. Party leader Dilan Yeşilgöz impressed upon Prime Minister Dick Schoof that the Cabinet had to come up with “sound” laws. The VVD leader also wanted Schoof to work on urgent legislation at the same time in case the emergency legislation fails. Van Vroonhoven also assured the opposition that the Cabinet would come up with alternatives “as soon as possible” if the emergency law does not pass.

PVV leader Geert Wilders, on the other hand, firmly rejected the option of emergency legislation. It was agreed during the formation that the Cabinet would declare an asylum crisis, and he wants to hold his coalition partners to that. He did, however, cautiously offer the Cabinet room to come up with a different consideration. “I’m not in charge of that, the Cabinet makes its own choices.”

Baudet reprimanded for Nazi reference

A reference to the Nazi era earned FvD leader Thierry Baudet a reprimand from parliament president Martin Bosma. During a speech about top civil servants who, according to him, were obstructing the right-wing Cabinet, Buadet said: “that a little night of the long knives at the Ministries would not be out of place.”

The Night of the Long Knives was a three-day massacre in June 1934 in which Adolf Hitler had a large number of opponents within the Nazi party NSDA murdered. At least 85 people were killed, but some estimates put the number at a thousand.

Bosma reprimanded Baudet. “You are familiar enough with history to know that what you are doing is a rather dubious reference,” he said. D66 leader Rob Jetten asked Baudet to retract his words, which he did. “It slipped out,” he said. “And, of course, it was meant ironically.”