Asylum minister Marjolein Faber lashes out at coalition parties NSC and VVD

Asylum minister Marjolein Faber lashed out at the coalition parties NSC and VVD before her weekly Council of Ministers meeting after the two parties had stated earlier this week that the results she has produced have been insufficient thus far. Faber said that the NSC “lives in a paper reality” and that after more than ten years in government, the VVD is making promises that they cannot keep regarding migration.

The leader of the PVV, which is also Faber’s party, Geert Wilders, pushed for extra measures against asylum migration on Monday. This led to tension within the coalition.

Wilders has threatened to step out of the Cabinet if preparations for a freeze on the treatment of asylum seeker applications do not begin “within a few weeks.” This led to the VVD and the NSC responding by referring to the previous agreements regarding the asylum measures and pointing out that it is Faber’s responsibility to get these agreements into legislation.

Faber repeated her comments on Wednesday morning that it is not her fault that there have not been more results during her term as minister. NSC was one of the parties pushing against the usage of an emergency law, which has led to the minister having to develop legislative proposals. Faber added that she wanted to see these proposals be treated quickly, but she was forced to answer hundreds of written questions from MPs before this was possible.

“I have never seen that before, that there are 700 questions in the first round for a law of this size,” Faber said. “So I think that is very peculiar.” She concluded from this, while not naming any names, that not everybody is working together on the issue. “In any case, it is not going quickly in this way.”

Faber also criticized her predecessor, Eric van den Brug, who is now a parliament member of the VVD. “We had a state secretary who was saying: the more asylum seekers, the better.”

The minister also repeated previous comments that she is still trying to fix the ruins that the former prime minister, Mark Rutte, left behind.

Faber admitted that the effects of her strict asylum laws are “not predictable with scientific certainty,” She said in response to the 700 questions from MPs that this would not change with more research into the laws.

The minister has repeatedly said in the past during debates and in response to questions from journalists that she is convinced that her asylum laws will reduce the number of asylum seekers coming into the country.

Although she cannot find conclusive evidence for this, she draws hope from the example of Sweden. The Scandinavian country has implemented strict asylum measures in the past, and this led to a reduction in the number of refugees that were coming to Europe going to the country.

Faber feels that this example proves that strict measures can make a difference. Although the also admitted that there are significant differences between Sweden and th Netherlands.