Klaas Buigel of the VVD Ter Apel sees up close what the high influx means. He says nothing has changed yet. “Very annoying and a pity. It’s just too slow.” He is supported by Eddy Förster of the VVD Breda party chairman. “It’s just taking too long. And the problems have only gotten worse.”
The patience of Ferry van Wijnen of Classical Liberal, an action group of right-wing VVD members, is also running out. “Rutte has to do what is necessary. I miss political decisiveness. We will put him to the test about why it is taking so long.”
Personal commitment
Half a year ago, the VVD supporters at a conference in Rotterdam already urged the party leadership to take action. On that occasion, VVD leader Mark Rutte gave a ‘personal commitment’ to work terribly hard to substantially reduce the flow of asylum seekers. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s an obligation of result. I really want to get it done,” he added.
Look here at the promise that Rutte made at the VVD congress in November:
The Netherlands is disrupted
“I believe they are doing their best,” says Förster. “But I wonder if that’s enough.” This year, 70,000 asylum seekers are expected. According to VVD member Jenny Elbertsen from Apeldoorn, our country cannot handle that at all. “The quality of life in neighborhoods and districts is under enormous pressure when so many people apply for asylum.”
At the previous congress, the party already adopted a number of motions to limit the flow of asylum seekers. “Nothing has been done with it,” says Paul Slettenhaar from Castricum. “The Netherlands is being disrupted, and yet nothing is happening.” Party chairman Lotte van Basten Batenburg of the VVD The Hague has a suspicion why: “I think many people think that the sweet peace in the cabinet is more important than a solution.”
Some wonder aloud whether it will ever be possible to make agreements with D66 and the ChristenUnie in this cabinet about reducing the influx. “If there is no good package before the summer, I would say: make this a free subject in the House of Representatives,” says Förster. The majority of the House wants the number of asylum seekers to be limited.
Hopeful
Rutte himself says he is hopeful that agreements will be reached in the coalition, but he thinks he will need a few more weeks for that. Or as State Secretary Van der Burg of Asylum and Migration puts it: “We are working on a marathon, and then you have to take a lot of steps before you reach the finish.” Van der Burg expects a lively discussion during the members’ meeting.
Slettenhaar has a hard head about whether this coalition will succeed in making agreements about a lower influx. “I don’t believe they’re coming out. I just don’t believe it.” Van Wijnen also has his doubts about this. “We understand it’s complicated,” he says. But if they can’t come to an agreement, he already has some advice for the party leadership: “Don’t keep following the ChristenUnie and D66. As far as we’re concerned, it’s better to pull the plug now than to wait another six months.”
Border
There is a limit, Van Basten Batenburg agrees. “The risk that the party leadership runs is that people will no longer believe it at some point. I hope we don’t reach that point.” She calls on the Lower House parliamentary group not to agree to the distribution law before agreement has been reached on limiting the influx.
“Achieving a result on this file takes an incredible amount of time,” Van der Burg will tell the members this afternoon. According to him, the VVD ministers in the cabinet are trying ‘step by step’ to find a solution to what they consider to be too high an influx of asylum seekers. The VVD members will be asked to be patient this afternoon.
2023-06-03 04:04:33
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