Senators are to vote later on Tuesday whether to back strict new asylum laws drafted by the previous government that would make it a criminal offence to live in the Netherlands without permission.
The vote is expected to be a knife-edge after the far-right PVV party threatened to block the legislation, unless the upper house agreed to four amendments designed to make the asylum regime even more severe.
PVV senator Alexander van Hattem said his party’s demands included a freeze on new asylum applications, a repeal of the law that requires all councils to house a proportionate share of asylum seekers and strict enforcement against undocumented migrants.
The PVV also wants the law to incorporate party leader Geert Wilders’ ten-point plan, including using the army to patrol the borders, which triggered the collapse of the last government 10 months ago when the other coalition parties rejected it.
The new government has pledged to pass the laws to prevent the asylum system becoming gridlocked, even though the progressive-liberal D66, the party of prime minister Rob Jetten, was opposed to the plans during the last cabinet term and in its election manifesto.
D66 to vote no
D66’s Senate group has resolved to vote against the bill, leaving its coalition partners, the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the right-wing liberal VVD with an uphill task to secure the votes it needs.
D66 senator Boris Dittrich said on LinkedIn that his group, which is not bound by the party whip, would not support the “unnecessarily harsh and unworkable” plans.
Dittrich told Dutch News last week that international workers and students whose work permits expire when their contracts or courses end could also face criminal charges under the law.
CDA and VVD have just 14 seats in the 75-member senate, but can count on the support of the hard-right JA21, the farmers’ party BBB and a number of independent senators.
Asylum minister Bart van den Brink promised during last week’s debate that people who supported refugees by giving them food or shelter would not be criminalised, which was a point of concern for his CDA colleagues.
But that raised the hackles of the PVV, raising the prospect of Wilders’ party voting down a bill that was originally submitted by the former PVV asylum minister, Marjolein Faber.
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