Many questions, few answers: Dutch PM's testy press conference over asylum "emergency"

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he still expects the Cabinet to be able to make a decision on Friday about whether or not to declare a national state of emergency to circumvent parliament and existing law about the treatment of asylum seekers, to enact stricter measures to handle immigrants requesting asylum. During his press conference after a meeting with Cabinet ministers on Monday, Schoof was almost exclusively peppered with questions from journalists for half an hour about such an emergency declaration, and the negotiations with coalition parties regarding it. Despite somewhat prickly exchanges, those questions remained largely unanswered.

"You know my answer by now, don't you," the prime minister said after a series of question about the matter. "You can ask me a lot of questions about this, but I'm simply not going to do it."

Resorting to declaring a state of emergency is still an option on the table, Schoof said. The negotiators are still considering "various options," but the prime minister would not elaborate on the matter, such as the Cabinet submitting a bill to Parliament with a request it be handled with urgency. Schoof also would not say if such an urgent bill would contain even more severe measures, such as making it a criminal offence to be present in the Netherlands without a valid residence permit.

He also would not say whether the Cabinet still considers the situation to be a crisis, since fewer asylum seekers arrived in the Netherlands recently when compared to previous years. Answering that question would be "unhelpful" with regard to a successful negotiation among coalition parties PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB, he stated.

Schoof was also vague and unwilling to discuss details when pressed further about the possible alternatives to the asylum emergency declaration which are on the table. Nor would he say which option he prefers. "I really won't make any statements about 'who, what, where, when' at this moment. Because then I would only know one thing for sure, namely that we won't reach an agreement this week. So I think it's wise to keep that in a close circle for a while."

The prime minister is "in any case hopeful" that the deadline can be met, which he said is a hard deadline "in principle." But he also did not want to completely rule out that a decision could be reached later. Schoof is leading negotiations between the coalition parties, in particular the PVV and NSC, which have opposing viewpoints on the issue. There is "a lot of pressure" on those negotiators, he said after the Cabinet meeting that was postponed from last Friday to Monday.

The coalition parties have also been keeping their lips sealed for days. Behind the scenes, information is also only trickling out in small doses. It has been confirmed that Schoof had a meeting on Friday with Geert Wilders, the leader of far-right party PVV, and Nicolien van Vroonhoven, the interim NSC parliamentary faction leader. There was a positive atmosphere during this meeting, sources close to the coalition confirmed. Monday evening, there will reportedly be a meeting with the same parties represented. If the two parties make progress, the VVD and BBB will also have to join later this week.

Opting for an option other than declaring a state of emergency would ultimately be different from the policy plans laid out by both the coalition formation agreement and the Cabinet's plan for a four-year term. This is why the meetings between Wilders and Van Vroonhoven are necessary, because "the biggest bridge" is needed to span the divide between the PVV and NSC. The leaders of the VVD and BBB must also agree to changes, and then it must be passed by Cabinet ministers at breakneck speed.

The deadline set for this coming Friday was initially prompted by the autumn recess, when national politics will come to a standstill next week. But even if a decision is announced this week, but the Tweede Kamer and the Eerste Kamer, the lower and upper houses of Parliament, would most likely have to return from that recess to debate the issue.

It will be "hard work" to reach an agreement on Friday, Schoof acknowledged. Initially, the prime minister aimed to make a decision by the end of this past weekend to bring to ministers during the Cabinet meeting which preceded the press conference on Monday. That turned out to be too optimistic, he said. Schoof would not say what could happen if a deal is not reached by Friday. It is "a tense week," he conceded.