SP Leader Lilian Marijnissen Calls for Halt on Labor Migration and Criticizes Government’s Solution to Migration Problem

The migration problem for which the cabinet is now seeking a solution is largely caused by employers “who bring people here to keep labor costs as low as possible”. That is what SP leader Lilian Marijnissen said at a congress of her party in Apeldoorn. She repeated that, as far as she is concerned, there should be a temporary halt to labor migration.

Marijnissen does not agree with the government’s plan to persuade municipalities with a financial incentive to offer extra reception places. According to her, this means that the municipalities with the lowest incomes will receive the most people. Wealthy municipalities, which do not need the money, will provide a smaller share.

The SP leader believes that the cabinet has failed with asylum reception anyway. She thinks it’s “a big scandal” that people have to sleep outside and that there are “rioters who ruin it for everyone”. “We should never get used to outdoor sleepers,” she said. “Not in Ter Apel, not anywhere.”

Marijnissen’s position is not new, but very topical because the government parties VVD and ChristenUnie also had a congress in Apeldoorn today where the government’s position on migration was central.

As far as the SP is concerned, those parties get over the problem that employers “unrestrainedly” bring people here and that the working conditions and housing are subsequently “so bad that the inspectorate says: it is mopping with the tap open. This must stop, the exploitation must stop.”

Marijnissen further pleaded for a “radical democratization”. That is also one of the most important innovations of the principle program that was approved on Saturday at a conference in Apeldoorn. It should lead to people regaining control “over their neighbourhood, their work and their lives” and that bus stops or hospitals cannot simply be discontinued without a say.

This can be done, for example, by introducing a binding corrective referendum, giving more say to employees and tenants and putting the energy supply back into public hands.

It was the first time since 1999 that the principle program has been adjusted. The party has been discussing this for two years. Some topics have been deleted. For example, it no longer states that NATO must be disbanded as soon as possible. There is still almost nothing in the principle program about migration, which Marijnissen did talk about in her speech.