The Netherlands will have a citizens’ council on the topic that divides the population the most: migration. 150 citizens must submit broadly supported proposals to politicians. An interview with the initiator: “Something has to be done. The polarization is so great.”
The initiators – nine citizens who are concerned about the intense debate surrounding migration, including presenter and interviewer Frénk van der Linden – are well aware that this goal is quite ambitious.
“Of course this is not a simple subject,” says Edzo Doeve, former boss of Dela and initiator of the citizens’ council. “But something has to be done. The polarization is so great, and it sometimes seems as if it is being deliberately fueled by politics.”
What is a citizens’ council?
So the idea is: if the 150 members of the House of Representatives cannot reach an agreement on migration among themselves – even though the minority cabinet is working on new asylum measures – then 150 citizens will have to do it. These are selected by lot and must reflect Dutch society.
This citizens’ council must intensively consider the input of various experts and stakeholders in the asylum problem. The report of the State Commission on Demographic Developments 2050, also known as the Van Zwol Commission, serves as a starting point. At the beginning of 2024, it proposed to admit a maximum of 50,000 migrants per year on balance in the coming decades.
We hope to be able to offer political solutions soon
Proposals for national politics
On this basis they must enter into discussions with each other in order to arrive at recommendations that a majority of the participants can live with. This takes place in four areas: family reunification, labor migration, study migration and asylum migration. The proposals are then presented to national politicians.
“And that’s where it gets exciting,” Doeve realizes. “So far, politicians have not shown that they can come together on migration, it is mainly a topic on which they try to score. On the other hand: we hope to be able to offer them solutions soon. Solutions that are supported by the majority of society. That can also give them the push they need.”
The citizens’ council is supported by about a hundred prominent ‘recommenders’, such as former politicians Job Cohen, Gert-Jan Segers, Ronald Sörensen and Gerdi Verbeet and celebrities such as Mart de Kruif, Geert Mak, Tineke Schouten, Jörgen Raymann and Maurice de Hond.
Previous citizen consultation climate
A citizens’ council recently took place in the Netherlands about climate. At the end of last year, it presented advice with ‘impactful’ proposals to the cabinet and the House of Representatives.
Big difference: the climate consultation was set up in 2023 by then climate minister and current Prime Minister Rob Jetten (D66). The citizens’ council on migration is an initiative from outside politics, it is the first time that this has happened.
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