The cabinet has not yet reached a mutual agreement on asylum. In a top meeting with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and leaders of coalition partners CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie, no breakthrough was reached on Wednesday evening.
The ministers involved deny that there is a crisis in the cabinet, but that cannot hide the fact that after months of talks, the discussion about asylum within the cabinet has reached a boiling point. The VVD in particular wants a package of measures to reduce the influx of asylum seekers in the longer term. That is why Mark Rutte (VVD), Sigrid Kaag (D66), Wopke Hoekstra (CDA) and Carola Schouten (CU) and other ministers met again on Wednesday evening. They will do that again on Thursday.
Kaag said afterwards that everyone is of good will. “We will continue tomorrow. We had good conversations.” Schouten spoke of ‘intensive talks’. Will the cabinet come out? “We will continue tomorrow.” CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra spoke of ‘tough conversations’. “But we will continue talking tomorrow. I think that with such a big problem you have to make an enormous effort to solve it.”
VVD State Secretary Eric van der Burg ‘still assumes that a decision will be made on Friday’. Prime Minister Mark Rutte kept it short: “More tomorrow! We never say anything about the atmosphere, I’m not going to speculate, there’s no crisis, but we’re talking. I will not give sports scores.”
The VVD’s wish to reduce the influx of asylum seekers is not shared by coalition partner ChristenUnie and D66. The parties recognize that tens of thousands of asylum applications per year are unmanageable in the long term, but only want to support ‘legally feasible’ measures.
Prior to the consultation, the protagonists did not want to speak of a crisis:
Weeks of consultations are now moving towards a high tension, especially because Rutte promised his VVD supporters to come up with a plan ‘before the summer’ to reduce the influx. The ‘temperature of the talks is rising’, those involved report. Especially because the ChristenUnie and D66 do not see a lower intake as an end in itself and are in no hurry to meet the ‘deadline’ that the VVD has ‘imposed on itself’. “It’s going strong, but it’s not broken yet,” says an insider.
At the same time, for the VVD and the ChristenUnie, the subject of asylum is so fundamental that it is worth a government crisis to the parties.
Deals
The parties have already agreed on restrictions on labor migration. To curb the arrival of Eastern European workers, new distribution centers would only be allowed if there are enough homes, schools and healthcare providers in the area.
But even after months of deliberation, the cabinet has only ‘advanced centimeters’ on asylum. Considerations are being made to grant asylum applications less often, more border controls and less generous family reunification. Currently, status holders are sometimes allowed to bring over many family members, but the cabinet is looking for ways to make that group smaller. That is a sensitive subject for the ChristenUnie, which prefers to leave it untouched.
In addition, there are still plans on the table not to automatically convert a temporary residence permit into a permanent one after five years and to ensure that asylum seekers are allowed to work more quickly.
Prior to the meeting, State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum Affairs) said that he assumes that the cabinet will make a decision on the migration package on Friday.
CDA members Hoekstra and his fellow party member Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing) acknowledge that these are difficult talks, but believe that this cabinet owes it to its class to come to an agreement together. “I say: let’s do everything we can to come to a reasonable solution together and find a way in the middle,” said De Jonge.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Sigrid Kaag (D66), there is ‘the good will to get out’. Deputy Prime Minister Carola Schouten (ChristenUnie) said she hoped that the cabinet could ‘come a long way’ on Wednesday evening.
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