The Netherlands can pursue a much stricter asylum policy without having to fear EU sanctions

Geert Wilders has never borne any real government responsibility in the Netherlands. So you can’t know what will happen if he or a kindred spirit is at the controls. But of course he doesn’t have his past, as Bart Jan Spruyt explained. Many commentators therefore assume that if the PVV comes into government, Wilders will ensure that all kinds of illegal measures will be taken. Especially in the field of asylum, of course.

Especially now that Wilders was guest of honor at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an international meeting of ultra-conservative politicians held in Budapest. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán served as host. Wilders was allowed to give a key-note speech in which he went ‘full organ’ about asylum seekers, according to research website Follow The Money (FTM) reported.

Wim Voermans and the international treaties

The politically correct left, through Jesse Klaver, called that speech completely inappropriate. The call to keep our hands off asylum will probably become louder again. He already sounded loud, but as far as I’m concerned, with the wrong arguments. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

We start with Wim Voermans, professor of constitutional and administrative law at Leiden University. Voermans said in the television program Outside court that various points in the PVV’s election manifesto are in conflict with international treaties. He mainly had EU asylum policy in mind. An asylum stop, for example – a deep wish of Wilders – would not be possible at all, according to Voermans. Is that right?

I think it depends on how you put such a measure together. If the Netherlands decides today that almost all countries in the world are safe (enough), the Netherlands will adhere to the EU rules, but almost no one will be granted asylum anymore. The Netherlands can make that decision because there is a common EU asylum policy, but the rules of that policy are vague. As a result, EU member states are relatively free in interpreting the right to asylum. A clear example is of course Hungary, which has not granted asylum to Muslims for many years. You might think that this is contrary to EU rules, but Hungary is still a member of the EU.

That is another feature of many EU treaties: there are no credible sanctions. EU treaties are a kind of self-service checkout where if it turns out that you have not paid, the exit will simply open for you. This applies not only to asylum policy, but also to the EU budget rules, for example. Many Member States adhere and/or did not adhere to it without ever being punished for it.

Hein de Haas: legal options have been exhausted

Very recently, Hein de Haas also came up with legal limitations of international treaties. Thanks to Wynia’s Week, we know that he is not aware of the Dutch situation. So he showed in the talk show Sophie and Jeroen from BNN/VARA see that the number of refugees in the world has fluctuated back and forth for decades without a clear upward trend. He thereby suggested that this would also apply to the Netherlands. However, we had calculated ourselves that the number of asylum seekers was already heading towards the crisis year 2015 (almost 60 thousand).

His next claim, however, was that with asylum all legal options to limit it have been exhausted. De Haas meant, I assume, that the Netherlands is bound by the EU’s asylum policy. He probably wanted to explain this further, but parliamentary reporter Nynke de Zoeten, who was also present in the talk show, took it over from him with apparent pleasure. Wilders, she said, wants to limit the influx of asylum seekers with instruments that are not actually legally possible. De Haas did not dispute that.

De Haas pretends that he is above the parties and knows how to debunk both left-wing and right-wing myths about migration. But thanks to Nynke de Zoeten it became clear that scientist De Haas is also in the anti-Wilders corner.

Harm Ede Botje: Wilders loves Hungary (and Orbán)

Investigative journalists also assume that if Wilders’ party comes into government, all kinds of anti-democratic measures will be taken. Harm Ede Botje, investigative journalist at FTM, wrote a long piece about Wilders’ love for Hungary and President Orbán. The reason was Wilders’ speech at the CPAC.

Wilders spoke about the millions of asylum seekers and labor migrants in Africa ready to come to Europe. Open borders are forced on us by progressive politicians, according to Wilders, but the electorate has turned to him to protect their norms and values. In Hungary you can see what Europe would look like without Islam.

It is not surprising that Wilders loves Hungary. He has a Hungarian wife, with whom he regularly takes trips to Hungary. It is equally unsurprising that he admires Orbán. Orbán manages to keep many asylum seekers out. In addition, he comes close to what Wilders would also like, namely that hardly any asylum seekers are admitted. An almost perfect asylum stop with implicit approval of the EU institutions.

What exactly does Ede Botje intend with this article? FTM is not clear. Many suggestions about politicians who want to put an end to democracy, including of course Orbán himself who is actually destroying the democratic institutions in Hungary. But does that prove that Wilders also has no regard for democratic legal rules?

An ounce stricter is also possible

Is it then true that in the EU a member state can apparently only limit the influx of asylum if it has a dictator like Orbán at its head? Not that either. Each EU member state applies its own criteria when granting residence status to asylum seekers. We therefore know that there is a large difference in allocation percentages between EU countries. The Netherlands is the most generous country in the EU and France is only about half as generous as the Netherlands. Hungary is – see above – one of the least generous Member States.

This information is based on EU figures and is therefore known. Someone who also knows this is De Haas, as evidenced by a thick book about migration that he wrote. He said nothing about that in Sophie and Jeroen’s talk show. Another proof that he is not very scientific in his public actions. He is withholding essential information. He could also have said that the Netherlands could also be a little stricter when granting asylum. If you are strict enough, you will soon be close to an asylum stop.

Harry Verbonwas professor of public finance at Tilburg University. His articles appear regularly in Wynia’s Week.

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