As a result, a panel discussion on distribution law was also cancelled. In that conversation, various authorities and interested bodies would shed light on the law on distribution. The law of VVD State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum Affairs) obliges municipalities to take in (extra) asylum seekers if they do not do so voluntarily. Not all municipalities have been welcoming asylum seekers for many years.
‘What will also play a role, though, is the VVD congress in early June’
“Within the VVD party, the distribution law has been a hot topic for a long time,” explains political journalist Mats Akkerman. ‘Prime Minister Rutte had to personally visit the VVD last November to get the group to vote for the law after all. In return, Rutte has promised to do more to limit the influx of asylum seekers.” However, the latter doesn’t seem to work. This year, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) expects more than 70,000 asylum applications. “This is three times what the IND established,” the same agency said.
cabinet
In a brief letter to the Chamber, the undersecretary of state wrote on Wednesday evening that ‘despite all efforts’ it was not possible to send the ‘inferior rule’ (the elaboration of the law on distribution) to the Chamber for the round table. That “basic legislation” will be discussed “at the earliest next week in the Council of Ministers”. Then the documents go to the Chamber.
With the VVD, the coercive aspect of municipalities is a particularly thorny topic within the law, but ‘what will also play a role, however, is the VVD congress in early June’, thinks Akkerman. The law was actually supposed to be introduced this year, but Van der Burg has already moved the date to early 2024. Before that, the law needs to be approved by both chambers.