The Senate will handle the ‘Asylum Measures Act’, while the House of Representatives will soon have to consider an adjustment of this law again.
The asylum committee of the Senate decided on Tuesday. Right -wing senate fractions meet a request from outgoing minister David van Weel (asylum/Foreign Affairs, VVD) to speed up the handling of the asylum measures law.
Pijnpunt was the recent announcement of the minister that he will come up with a short story: an adjustment of the ‘asylum measurement measures’ that has already been adopted by the House of Representatives. This law was passed at the beginning of July, including a PVV proposal to criminalize illegal residence as well as assistance to people without papers. Only after the Chamber had adopted the proposal did a discussion about the scope of criminalization. In order not to make that law stranded, Van Weel promised that he would ask the Council of State for ‘information’ about the position of care providers.
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Active drivers in conversation with a committee at the Senate during an action against the intended new asylum laws. Photo Lina Selg/ANP
From that information Turned out at the end of August The fact that it is ‘a real possibility’ is that assistance to undocumented people entails a criminal form of co -perpetration or complicity on the basis of the adopted amendment. “After all, the care provider makes it possible for that person to stay illegal in the Netherlands.” So also with “limited forms of help, such as giving a bowl of soup.”
On Monday it was announced that Van Weel opts for excluding the punishability of all forms of help. The criminalization of illegal residence is maintained.
The normal legislative process must be completed for the short story. Since Monday, citizens and social organizations have been able to give their opinion About the adjustment. Subsequently, advice on the text of the novella is requested from the Council of State. The House of Representatives debates and then votes over the asylum law.
For the elections
It is the outgoing cabinet to guide the asylum laws through the Senate before the elections. The question is whether this will succeed. The consultation for the novella runs until the end of September, a week later the House of Representatives goes with election recess. The Senate unanimously decided on Tuesday that it will take extra time for the treatment of the asylum laws.
Senators who are for quick treatment (JA21, 50PLUS, SGP, CDA, VVD, BBB and FVD) argued that they are not in the way of asking written questions about the law because of the speed, but not yet about the criminalization that the short story is about. Opponents of already treatment (D66, Volt, ChristenUnie, GroenLinks-PvdA, SP and Party for the Animals) pointed to the importance of care. For example, parties such as D66 and ChristenUnie do not dare to trust that the treatment of the novella in the Lower House will not reject chaos, as was the case last summer. “It is important to see how the novella legislation is being treated in the Lower House. It is possible that new amendments come, we must be able to view them in conjunction,” said Boris Dittrich of D66.
The minister told Tuesday morning in the morning program Good morning Netherlands (WNL) that he did not talk to Wilders about his adjustment of the controversial asylum law. “The core of the amendment, the criminalization of illegality, whatever the VVD wanted, remains part of the law.”
The criminalization of illegal residence has caused a lot of social protest. Now call certainly 110 organizations The Senate to do not agree with both asylum laws. On Tuesday morning, two petitions were offered to the Senate. For example, Refugee Work and Amnesty International state that the laws will not contribute to solutions to the problems in the asylum chain.
The initiators demanded special attention for the fate of undocumented people, a number of them were also present at the handing of the petitions. PVV senator Alexander van Hattem received this as chairman of the asylum committee, but refused to take a picture with it. For example, a petition was great for the text ‘for humanity, against criminalization’. He also did not talk to the undocumented persons or representatives of the social organizations.