Asylum Minister accused of ignorance, wishful thinking as she brushes MP concerns aside

Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber clashed with parliamentarians from the SP, CDA, ChristenUnie, D66, and others during the debate about her ministry’s plans and budget. Parliamentarians find Faber unclear and accuse her of wishful thinking and not knowing enough about what she’s doing. But she brushed their concerns aside, NOS reports.

In her introduction, Faber said she wants to pursue a strict asylum policy, but that she does still want to help the most vulnerable people. SP parliamentarian Michiel van Nispen wanted to know how that relates to the coalition parties’ intention to take in only 200, instead of 500 United Nations refugees. Faber responded that she only concerns herself with the asylum registration center in Ter Apel and people who actually apply for asylum. UN refugees do not end up in an asylum center but are immediately given a house.

This answer stunned parliamentarians from several parties. With such answers, a debate is pointless, said D66 parliamentarian Anne-Marijke Podt. CDA leader Henri Bontenbal agreed. “This is super painful,” he said. “This makes clear that the Minister does not know how this works.”

Several parliamentarians called for a suspension of the debate. It was eventually decided that the Minister would come back to the matter after the lunch break. When she did, Faber said that the Netherlands wants to take in fewer UN refugees because there are not enough homes for them. “We cannot offer these people what they want,” she said.

Faber also faced criticism for her plans to cut the budgets and staff of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) and Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) by around 80 percent from 2027. That despite the fact that the IND’s waiting times for processing asylum requests are getting longer and longer as the backlog grows, and there are now indications that the number of asylum seekers will decrease any time soon.

“This is how you head for chaos,” said D66 MP Podt. Denk MP Stephan van Baarle accused Faber of flexing her muscles with “vague promises.” Multiple parliamentarians accused her of wishful thinking.

CDA leader Bontenbal explained to the Minister that for a strict asylum policy, you need sufficient IND employees to be able to quickly assess applications and deport rejected asylum seekers.

But Faber insisted that the budget is fine and she “expects full cooperation” from parliament.

JA21 MP Joost Eerdmans raised concerns about the Minister getting sufficient support in the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate, for her plans. The PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB coalition does not have a majority in the Senate. Eerdmans said he is concerned about the Minister's “somewhat grim” attitude towards the Senate.

Faber brushed this concern aside, too. She said that the Senate has gotten “its wish” - the government won’t bypass parliament and the Senate by declaring an asylum crisis, but will implement measures with urgent laws. “I know for sure there are reasonable people in the Senate. They will put the interests of the Netherlands first,” Faber said