Cabinet minister expects asylum seeker distribution law to remain for up to 2 years

During a closed-door meeting with representatives from ministries, provinces, municipalities, and the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber said on Thursday that she expects the law governing the fair distribution of asylum seekers across the Netherlands to remain in place for another one to two years before it is repealed, according to a source.

On Friday, following a Cabinet meeting, Faber reiterated that she would continue enforcing the law as long as it remains in effect. However, she declined to comment on whether she would use her authority to force municipalities to establish additional reception centers for asylum seekers. The controversial law permits the national government to do just that as a way of guaranteeing all regions shelter asylum seekers proportionately.

Repealing the measure was a key election promise late last year from Faber’s far-right party, the PVV, which strongly opposes the dispersal law. “No coercion law: municipalities should never be forced to accommodate asylum seekers,” the party’s election manifesto stated. Under pressure from the PVV, the general coalition government framework agreement also calls for repealing the law.

“If asylum seekers need to be distributed across the country, it doesn’t necessarily have to involve coercion,” Faber said. She emphasized a preference for consultation and wants to focus first on managing the asylum influx.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimated that there were 237,000 refugees in the Netherlands by the end of 2023. The Asylum Reception Facilities in Municipalities Act, sometimes referred to as the Dispersal Act, aims to create enough spaces for asylum seekers and ensure a balanced distribution of needed facilities across municipalities. The Dispersal Act took effect on February 1.

Now, Prime Minister Dick Schoof is seeking talks with leaders of the four coalition factions in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament, to determine how the government will handle the asylum issue. The central question is whether the Cabinet will invoke emergency powers or tighten asylum rules through fast-track legislation. But Schoof remarked, “This sensitive process cannot be managed by the Cabinet alone.”

Schoof further noted that the government wants “some certainty” about how politically sensitive issues will be received by various parties. In the asylum debate, coalition partners NSC and PVV are at odds. NSC sees little need for declaring a state of emergency regarding asylum as the Cabinet wants, while the PVV is pushing for it. This would allow the Cabinet to usurp established law about the treatment of asylum seekers and their reception, without first going to Parliament to approve the change.

Many legal scholars, municipal leaders, opposition politicians and some politicians from coalition parties have called it an attempt by the Cabinet to grab power to accomplish their political goals when there is not a true crisis. They say the issues in the asylum chain in the Netherlands has been caused by successive Cabinets neglecting the issue and not dedicating resources to fix identified problems.

Schoof is also seeking assurances from the Tweede Kamer on other key matters. “We need to generate support for big issues like asylum, housing, and social security,” he said. Schoof is looking for ways to ease political tensions, and the plan to engage with the leaders of the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB is “one of the options we are seriously considering.”

Recent weeks have seen frequent clashes between the four coalition parties, with some factions openly opposing government ministers. Agriculture Minister Femke Wiersma faced heavy criticism this week for her decision not to ban the use of electric prods in livestock trading. She eventually reversed course and will now move forward with the ban.

Cabinet unrest was discussed at the meeting. Schoof aims to ensure that the Cabinet and the Tweede Kamer do not “surprise each other” during debates. He stressed that this doesn’t mean every issue will be prearranged but noted that major decisions require solid backing.

The formation of the extra-parliamentary Cabinet was intended to create more distance between the Cabinet and Parliament, but that approach appears to be shifting. “In the coming months, I think we’ll be more or less extra-parliamentary at times,” the independent prime minister said, adding that this shift is “not at all unusual.”

The next few weeks will be tense, Schoof acknowledged, as the Cabinet is expected to decide on the asylum approach within one to three weeks. “There are clear risks,” the prime minister admitted.