The Netherlands is to press Brussels for changes in the rules which prevent member states from detaining rejected asylum seekers in secure accommodation, the Telegraaf said on Friday.

The paper quotes junior justice minister Klaas Dijkhoff as saying that rejected asylum seekers often take off when their deportation date nears. They either move to another EU country or become part of the illegal circuit, he said.

To prevent this, the Netherlands is keen to place them in secure accommodation but this is often impossible because of European rules. ‘We have a lot of problems with this,’ he said. Judges will only agree to detention in very rare cases. ‘You almost have to prove that someone has done it before to prove that there is a risk they will take off,’ he said.

The Netherlands is now going bring the problem to the attention of Brussels in the hope this is tackled quickly, he said.

Despite calls from left-wing MPs to take more refugees from Greece because of the cold weather, the minister said he had no plans to do so. The Netherlands already does more than other countries and ‘there comes a time where I am not going to take on more responsibility than others,’ he told MPs on Thursday.

It is Greece’s responsibility to make sure it’s accommodation is up to scratch and it has not done so, he said.