EU reaches agreement on migration policy with potential impact on the Netherlands
The European Union has reached an agreement on new regulations for admitting, accommodating, and distributing migrants, marking a significant breakthrough after years of deadlock. The pact could significantly impact the Netherlands in the long term.
The new pact represents a compromise among EU countries, accommodating the perspectives of countries of arrival, such as Italy and Greece, and countries of destination, such as the Netherlands and Germany. The agreement outlines procedures for screening asylum seekers at the EU's external borders and establishes a framework for distributing them to various member states in the event of high numbers of arrivals.
This agreement still requires the official approval of the European Parliament and member states.
“With this historic agreement, the EU is finally making important steps towards a European system to manage migration,” said Malik Azmani, VVD MEP and vice president of the European political group Renew Europe, in a reaction. “With the Pact, the EU finally delivers on a common European approach to better regulate migration by ensuring a fair sharing of responsibility and solidarity.”
According to him, the goal is to reduce the influx of asylum seekers to the Netherlands by decreasing the number of people traveling from European external borders to the Netherlands. “Therefore, measures at the European level are necessary to regain control over migration in the Netherlands,” he said in de Volkskrant on Wednesday morning.
The negotiators were determined to reach a resolution before being overshadowed by the European elections in June, which would likely require starting the process over again. They fear that far-right parties, like the Dutch election winner PVV, could benefit from continued stagnation on migration.
In the Netherlands, the question of migration remains controversial. It was the key issue that took down the Rutte IV Cabinet in July and the key issue of the parliamentary elections in November which led to the victory of the PVV.
Like many other EU member states, the Netherlands has faced refugee reception problems in recent years. In the summer of 2022, asylum seekers in Ter Apel had to sleep outside because there was no more room in the asylum registration center.
More recently, the Netherlands has been struggling to find additional shelter places to manage the influx of asylum seekers. The asylum distribution law, intended to better distribute asylum seekers across the country, has also been a contentious topic among political parties for several months.
