Unlike rest of campaign, final election debate mainly focused on asylum, not housing

While other debates around today’s city council elections focused mainly on housing and safety, the final debate on NOS on Tuesday revolved mostly around asylum. Local lead candidates and the parliamentary leaders of the five largest parties in the Tweede Kamer also discussed the other topics, but asylum is where the debate turned heated.

Jeroen Berends, the CDA leader in Doetinchem, urged the national politicians to watch their language. A third of municipal council members were threatened over the past four years. According to Berends, that is partly due to the language used by politicians in The Hague. The CDA is running a “decent campaign” in Doetinchem. National politicians “should also watch their language,” he said.

Lazise Hillebregt of D66 Dronten agreed. “Set a good example, but also just be honest,” she advised the parliamentary leaders.

When the topic came to asylum, GroenLinks-PvdA leader Jesse Klaver clashed with PVV leader Geert Wilders. Klaver accused Wilders of interfering too much with local decisions on the matter. Wilders attended several protests against plans to open asylum shelters. Klaver also accused Wilders of “fueling anger” with his tone and urged him: “Don’t do that.”

Wilders responded that he will not moderate his tone. He said he condemns violence and demonstrations, but according to him, millions of people are very angry because of housing shortages and problems with asylum seekers. “I like to be neat and polite,” Wilders said. “But I am going to do what I can to ensure that all asylum centers close.”

Janette Bosma of the Groningen PvdD posed that there is no immigration problem, only a reception problem due to previous governments’ negligence. CDA leader Henri Bontenbal said that the problems worsened when PVV Minister Marjolein Faber decided to stoke trouble regarding asylum issues instead of supporting local politicians trying to come up with solutions.

According to Hillebregt of D66 Dronten, reception problems can be alleviated if all municipalities adhere to the Asylum Distribution Act and take in their fair share of asylum seekers. Ashwin van Strombroek of PVV Lelystad and Richard de Mos of Hart Voor den Haag said they don’t intend to do so. Van Strombroek intends to offer “maximum resistance.” De Mos said he gets “crying fits” from all the demands of national politics. He said The Hague has a shortage of just about everything - teachers, housing, police. “The Hague can’t handle any more; enough is enough.”

VVD leader Ruben Brekelmans said that fighting against the Asylum Distribution Law won’t solve the problems. He said that the Cabinet is taking measures to limit the influx of asylum seekers so that the distribution law will eventually become redundant.

Wilders shot back that the Cabinet’s asylum policy is too lax. According to him, the Netherlands should implement an asylum freeze, just like Germany. “Young men who are running amok here and going after women. The elderly, women, and daughters can no longer handle it,” Wilders said. According to the PVV leader, 100 asylum centers could close if 30,000 Syrians leave the Netherlands.

D66 leader Jan Paternotte pointed out that Wilders, himself, is partly responsible for the increasing number of people fleeing war and violence. According to Paternotte, Wilders was cheering on Twitter when Syria was bombed with Russian bombs. When Vladimir Putin occupied Crimea, Wilders visited Moscow. And Wilders wants the Netherlands to support the American and Israeli attacks on Iran. “But that only results in a huge number of refugees,” Paternotte pointed out.

Wilders said that the D66 and VVD have allowed a million non-Western immigrants into the country over the past decade. According to Wilders, only a total asylum freeze can still help.

That was enough for VVD leader Brekelemans. “I heard local politicians say multiple times during the debate that national politicians need to be clear and honest,” he said. “An asylum freeze is simply not possible. And claiming that Germany is doing that now is simply not true.”

The fact that the debate focused so much on asylum is likely due to the presence of the parliamentary party leaders. According to an Ipsos I&O poll, voters consider housing and safety the top priority in these local elections. The topic of asylum and immigration is only eighth on the list of concerns.