The Council of State will not test the government’s plans to temporarily limit the family reunification of refugees for legal sustainability. A majority of the House of Representatives rejected a motion calling for this on Tuesday. Supporters of the motion, which was submitted by MPs Kati Piri (PvdA) and Suzanne Kröger (GroenLinks), did not receive support from the governing parties VVD and CDA. PVV, JA21 and Forum for Democracy also voted against the motion. The parliamentary factions of government parties ChristenUnie and D66 did support the motion.
At the end of August, State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum and Migration, VVD) came up with plans to limit the number of people who come to the Netherlands for family reunification. In the plans, family members of people who have been granted asylum in the Netherlands are only allowed to travel after their family member after fifteen months. The family may only come over from abroad if a refugee has been allocated a home. This while people often wait too long for the allocation of a home. Now that the House of Representatives has rejected the motion, the cabinet can implement the controversial plans.
Last week, Van der Burg acknowledged in the House of Representatives that his officials, like migration law experts, had questioned the legal sustainability of the measure. According to the experts, this is in violation of international treaties. But the officials also do not say “that it is not possible,” added Van der Burg. He did not want to seek advice from the Council of State, because no new law has been made for the policy. During the debate, the petitioner Kati Piri wondered how it could be justified ‘to keep children separated from their father and mother even longer’.
Also read: Van der Burg receives barrage of critical questions about postponement of family reunification