Syria is safe enough to stop allowing refugees from there into the Netherlands and to send some back, Geert Wilders, leader of the far right PVV, said on social media.

As a start, the Netherlands should close its borders to all new arrivals from Syria, Wilders said. The PVV parliamentary party, which is the biggest in parliament, has called on migration minister Marjolein Faber to take action.

Wilder said that he would raise the issue during the debate on the government’s 2025 spending plans next month. “I will propose that the Netherlands declares Syria to be (partly) safe, give no more Syrians permanent residency documents and sends back all the Syrians without residency papers,” Wilders said.

The measures, he said, “would substantially improve our safety and the asylum crisis, and the major shortages on the housing market”.

Syrians currently account for the biggest group of new asylum seekers coming to the Netherlands.

In April, Faber’s predecessor Eric van der Burg said Syria is not yet safe and there is a real risk that Syrians who go back face human rights abuses. He based his decision on foreign affairs ministry reports.

The UN, the EU, and NGOs currently deem Syria to be unsafe and in violation of international law.