The Netherlands is the first EU country to demand a crisis exemption from mandatory migration rules, in the hope of reducing the number of refugees entering the country.
The Dutch government, dominated by Geert Wilders’ far-right party, said the measure was justified because it could provide its citizens with “housing, health care and education”.
The request comes amid a growing political crisis surrounding the EU’s common refugee system and the borderless Schengen area.
“I have just informed the European Commission that I want a migration opt-out within Europe for the Netherlands,” Dutch Migration Minister Marjolein Faber wrote in a letter to Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs.
‘We must take control of our own asylum policy again.’
However, the European Commission has already criticised the plans: ‘You cannot circumvent EU law’.
Asylum seekers and refugees at a registration center in Ter Apel, Netherlands in April (file photo)
Geert Wilders, who leads a far-right party that currently dominates the Dutch government
Signs indicate arrival of new refugees in Ter Apel, Netherlands (archive image)
This comes as the new Dutch government, which came to power in November, plans to declare an “asylum crisis” to pave the way for tougher measures.
This includes a freeze on asylum applications and the forcible deportation of people who do not have the right to reside in the Netherlands.
Under the proposal, refugees would only be allowed to bring family members if they had been resident for two years, had a home and had a “stable income.”
Currently, asylum seekers receive a permanent residence permit after five years.
Earlier this month, Germany announced it would introduce controls at all land borders to tackle the “continuing burden” of migration and “Islamic terrorism”.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the EU the country had no choice but to introduce strict border controls to prevent illegal entry.
The policy marked a reversal from her position last month, when she refused to extend strict controls first introduced last year at Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
These rules have already led to more than 30,000 people being turned back at the borders since mid-October last year.
Concerns about immigration have become increasingly prominent in German politics, particularly following a series of attacks by Islamists, most recently in Solingen.
The German government is also under increasing pressure to respond to migration, as support for the right-wing AfD party rises rapidly.
And late last month, the German police union announced that Schengen was only worsening Germany’s security crisis and should be lifted immediately.
People hold up banners reading ‘Direct democracy’ and ‘No to mass immigration, yes to remigration’ as far-right protesters march through the streets of Solingen
Nancy Faeser of the struggling Social Democratic Party (SPD) is to impose temporary border controls at all national land borders
Far-right protesters hold a banner reading “Remigration Now” as they march through the streets of Solingen, following a stabbing, on August 26
Teenage girls dressed in German flags attend an election campaign rally of the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland on May 28
Manuel Ostermann, deputy chairman of the Federal Police Union, has strongly protested against Schengen, the idiotic border-free EU plan, in an interview with the magazine Focus.
‘The crisis in German security is a direct consequence of the ineffective Schengen policy. Schengen’s inability to manage migration effectively has put Germany’s security at risk.’
‘Germany must realise that Schengen is currently failing and must either make a concerted effort to return to the current legal situation or end Schengen,’
He pointed to rising crime rates in Germany, exacerbated by the migration crisis, as evidence that Schengen is no longer viable.
He said Schengen’s open borders have made it easier for criminals to operate across Europe, which has implications for security in Germany.
‘Schengen has failed to protect Germany from the influx of criminals, making immediate action necessary.’
‘We must continue to inform our internal borders, because border controls, whose effectiveness has been proven, are no longer maintained under Schengen.
‘The failure of Schengen is evident from the increase in crime. This makes it clear that changes are needed.’