State Secretary Eric van der Burg punches the air with his fist. Relieved. At the VVD congress in Rotterdam, just 77 percent voted in favor of his new asylum law, which obliges municipalities to take in asylum seekers. “I was more tense than I wanted to admit to myself,” he says a little later.
In the room, the surprise was much less. At the microphones, the proponents of the asylum law almost all received applause, the opponents barely. Claire Martens, leader of the VVD in Amsterdam, said: “Liberals don’t let children sleep in the grass.” According to Koen Schuiling, mayor of Groningen, municipalities in the north already have many problems – mainly due to gas extraction – and yet they participate ‘shoulder to shoulder’ in the reception of refugees. “We do this based on humanitarian and liberal values. If we can’t even manage that together anymore?”
A ‘push’ for municipalities
For the VVD top, the result was a huge windfall, after the defeat at the previous conference in June, in Halfweg. Then a narrow majority of the members voted against the nitrogen plans of their own minister Christianne van der Wal. Asylum is much more sensitive than nitrogen in the party, so the meeting in Rotterdam seemed to be extra exciting. According to some opponents of the asylum law, things turned out completely differently now because of the tightly orchestrated organization of the meeting: one prominent VVD member after another came to the microphone to express support for the law. Former minister Henk Kamp was there, former member of parliament Charlie Aptroot, MEP Malik Azmani, alderman in Rotterdam Vincent Karremans. And also Klaas Dijkhoff, the former party leader of the VVD. He started about his time as State Secretary of Justice. “The influx of asylum seekers was also very high in 2015. I didn’t have a dispersal law yet and it was just fine. Some municipalities need a push. That helps.”
Dijkhoff said that especially the efforts of Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Europe had helped at the time. That led to the Turkey deal: Turkey no longer allowed refugees from Syria to cross over to Greece. “I now have every confidence again,” said Dijkhoff. Rutte has already promised to do his best again. At the congress, he said he sees it as an assignment to “substantially reduce” the number of asylum seekers. He started working “terribly hard” on that.
Not in the front row anymore
According to some VVD members, the fact that he gave his speech before the vote on the motions helped with the result. Rutte had emphasized how important it was for the VVD, as “the only major people’s party”, to take responsibility. “VVD’ers are never out for flowers and compliments, but we can clap loudly for ourselves once.” They did.
Rutte was sitting somewhere in the middle of the room, the members of parliament had seats on the side, Eric van der Burg remained standing, also on the side. At the previous congress, the party leaders sat next to each other in the front row and the astonishment about the result of the nitrogen motion was fully visualized. The party did not want to run that risk again. Now all cameras were focused on Van der Burg’s straight face.
He then says he is happy. “Always nice when the party supports you.” He believes that he now has an assignment, just like Rutte. “The party’s signal is clear.” Van der Burg sees “possibilities” to reduce the numbers of asylum seekers, but did not yet want to say which ones. “I will first discuss this in the cabinet.”
‘Sturdy motions’
The hall was completely full, there were more than 1,400 members. Last time there were about eight hundred. The opponents of the asylum law had made themselves heard before the congress, especially in The Telegraph – which is widely read by VVD members. According to some, the VVD had better leave the cabinet. They lost, but are not very disappointed. Teun Heldens, leader of the VVD in the Limburg municipality of Peel en Maas, says he is happy with a few “strong motions” that were adopted. The VVD members voted for a temporary asylum freeze, a maximum number of asylum seekers that may enter the Netherlands per year and for a temporary right to asylum. All of which is virtually impossible in a coalition with the ChristenUnie and D66.
Heldens is still satisfied: “It was a tough battle, we have come closer together as members.” He expects little from Rutte’s efforts. “He has been prime minister for twelve years, he is very good at making deals, but when it comes to asylum, our election program has never been implemented.”