The House of Representatives approved the so-called dispersion law on Tuesday, reports the ANP news agency. The law must ensure a fair distribution of asylum seekers among Dutch municipalities. The parliamentary majority represents a first important step for the implementation of the politically sensitive law, which was announced more than a year ago by the outgoing Rutte IV cabinet. Yet it is highly uncertain whether the law will pass the final hurdle, the vote in the Senate. In any case, BBB, the largest party in the Senate with sixteen seats, will be obstructive.
The distribution law is a political response to the persistent capacity problems, and the associated regularly distressing situations at the registration center in Ter Apel last year. Hundreds of people slept outside here during the low point. Ter Apel’s reception capacity encountered limits, because reception locations in other parts of the Netherlands provided too few permanent places. Last month, outgoing State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum, VVD) underlined the necessity of the law, because Ter Apel was once again in danger of reaching its maximum reception capacity.
Van den Burg cannot count on support for the law within his party. VVD member Ruben Brekelmans spoke of “a bad thing” when the House decided last month not to declare the bill controversial, meaning that a vote does not have to be taken before the November elections. “A left-wing majority led by the CDA deprives voters of the opportunity to express their views on this law.”
Also read: State Secretary is peddling an asylum law that he actually does not like