VVD Member of Parliament Daan de Neef is leaving the liberal party after 18 years of membership and leaves the House because he does not agree with the asylum policy of the cabinet. He informed the group on Wednesday evening, he writes on Twitter.
“The VVD is simply no longer my party,” he wrote in a statement. He calls the cabinet’s asylum policy “ice cold” and says he can no longer defend it. De Neef has been in the House of Representatives since March last year and was involved in matters such as justice and public health.
“I had counted on humanity after a week in which a three-month-old baby died in Ter Apel and in which Doctors without Borders spoke of an emergency. But that compassion failed to materialize and, to my taste, an ice-cold approach was taken in its place.” De Neef said.
Group chair Sophie Hermans says she respects her colleague’s choice. But “I regret his view of the careful and balanced agreements made about asylum last week. I know that both the Secretary of State and our spokesperson do their work with compassion.”
Within the VVD there is also criticism of the cabinet’s plans for asylum policy. However, this criticism focuses mainly on the government’s failure to intervene hard enough. Members argued for an asylum stop on Tuesday evening during a party meeting with VVD State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) and asylum spokesman Ruben Brekelmans.
The coalition parties agreed last week after tough negotiations on a plan to tackle the problems in the asylum system. This means, among other things, that relatives (the family members of an asylum seeker) may only come to the Netherlands if the asylum seeker who is allowed to stay has a home.