‘Protect people’
‘Don’t let it come to that! Keep the commitment. Take your responsibilities and protect the people who need your protection,” he said. A few hours earlier it became clear that the distribution law will now really come into force after the approval of the VVD. The asylum law provides, among the other, that municipalities that continue to refuse to accept asylum seekers may be forced to do so.
From the outset, social liberals were in favor of Secretary of State Eric van der Burg’s distribution law (Asylum). In recent months he has had to knock on the door of the Municipalities to prepare emergency shelters, with limited success. The large influx and the shortage of reception places have created a serious crisis within the asylum chain.
Chaos
The D66 leader and deputy prime minister highlighted the chaos in and at the Ter Apel claim centre, where people had to sleep outside and there was no human shelter for many asylum seekers. “This affects me personally, this affects us as people, this affects us as a party.”
Among the four coalition parties, only the VVD opposed the new asylum law. As there were weeks of consultations between the parliamentary parties of VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie, it took much longer for the bill to be ready. If the law has been discussed by both houses, it could go into effect at the beginning of February, Van der Burg indicated today.
Imminent recession
Kaag also warned of an impending recession. The risk of a recession is increasing. The honest story is that we are all going to feel this crisis. Some more than others.’ According to Kaag, the cabinet cannot deal with every setback, as happened with the corona pandemic. Even bigger support packages unwittingly push inflation further. And we don’t want to pass the bill on to future generations. In the end, we pay that bill together.”
He stressed that the Netherlands’ debt is still low. ‘But that can change quickly if we get annual deficits too high and interest rates keep going up. What we spend with one hand must first come in with the other. To avoid having to cut costs in a crisis situation. This is the lesson we have learned from the past.’