Far-right PVV senators will vote against asylum plan from its own fmr. minister

The PVV will not support the amendment bill needed in the Senate to secure a majority for the asylum plans of the previous Cabinet. PVV Senator Alexander van Hattem wrote this on X. The “amendment” was intended to make one of two asylum laws introduced by former PVV minister Marjolein Faber less strict for people who provide assistance to individuals staying in the country illegally. However, the PVV faction in the Senate does not agree to this, according to Van Hattem.

As a result, it remains uncertain whether Marjolein Faber’s asylum laws will be adopted. If the so-called amendment bill fails, the CDA and SGP are expected to vote against at least the asylum emergency measures act.

If the PVV does not support the amendment, it would hinge on a single remaining vote, with the regional faction OPNL potentially needed to secure a majority. It is still unclear how that party will vote.

The PVV will nonetheless support the two bills currently under consideration. Earlier, the party had threatened to vote against both the asylum emergency measures act and the legislation introducing a two-status system.

Earlier this week, the Senate debated the two bills. The asylum emergency measures act contains several strict measures, including the abolition of permanent residence permits. The two-status system introduces a distinction between two categories of asylum seekers, with one group becoming eligible for a residence permit more quickly.

PVV leader Geert Wilders had previously welcomed the adoption of the amendment bill in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, that ensured providing assistance to undocumented migrants would not be criminalised. Senator Van Hattem now describes that same amendment as “unacceptable.”