Kindergarten was the theme of this weekend at the party congresses of SP, ChristenUnie and VVD. At the VVD in particular, Mark Rutte had to do everything to convince his party comrades that he still has the influx of asylum seekers under control. “The fans’ patience has run out,” says political journalist Leendert Beekman.
According to Beekman there is a strict deadline, there must be a package of measures before the start of the summer break. And that request comes not only from Rutte himself, but also from the parliamentary group. VVD party leader Sophie Hermans said “our ministers involved cannot go on vacation before there is a perspective here for the municipalities, before there is a perspective for the AOC, before there is a perspective for the countries Bassi that there really is a package with which we can get things done.’
ChristenUnie also held a conference where asylum was the leitmotiv and where Rutte received no support from ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker. Bikker does not see the flow of asylum seekers drying up yet and calls for the measures to be “legally sustainable”, feasible and constitute an improvement to the asylum system. In short: no patch work.
Irritation
This in turn has caused irritation among the VVD, as Bikker also said the Netherlands could easily handle 70,000 asylum seekers this year. Beekman does not think this has contributed to a better understanding between ChristenUnie and the VVD. Finally, the leader of the PS Marijnissen broadened the topic of asylum and said that labor migration must be addressed.
Mark Rutte briefly touched upon three points which should provide a solution to the asylum crisis: agreements such as the agreement with Turkey at the time, a visa policy from the Balkans including border control and finally, the Netherlands must become less attractive to asylum seekers.
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
