The Dutch government’s most senior advisory body has told immigration minister Marjolein Faber not to submit two pieces of legislation aimed at reducing the number of asylum seekers to parliament as they are.

The Council of State, which advises on all draft laws, said that the proposals “do not convincingly demonstrate that the measures will actually help limit the influx or make asylum procedures more efficient.”

There is no practical or scientific evidence that there will be an impact, the ruling said. “There are no figures in the notes which show how big the reduction [in applications] will be and how long this will take.”

On the contrary, the rulings state, the measures are likely to place additional strain on both the immigration service and the legal system.

In addition, the council points out that next year the Netherlands will be required to implement the European Asylum and Migration Pact. If her plans are not in line with EU guidelines, there could be further problems in implementing the new laws and additional legal proceedings, the council said.

Faber said on Friday that she planned to press ahead with the rules, whatever the council said, and that she is prepared to change at most “a comma or full stop.” Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right PVV, has also said he is not prepared to accept any alterations to Faber’s plans which are supposed to be part of the “toughest asylum regime ever”.

Their positions are likely to cause further tensions between the four cabinet parties. The NSC said earlier that it would not support Faber’s draft laws if the Council of State is critical and the position of the VVD is also unclear.

Backlogs

The council points out in its comments that the IND and legal system are already facing “significant backlogs” in dealing with asylum-related cases. It also says that both organisations were only given “one week” to provide feedback on Faber’s proposals.

“While there may be a political desire to take swift action to tighten national asylum policy, this is not a sufficient reason to skip steps or allocate inadequate time for legislative preparation,” the council said. “The drafting of these proposals has therefore been inadequate.”

The first piece of legislation scraps permanent residency permits for refugees, reduces the primary refugee permit from five to three years, stops adult children from joining their parents in the Netherlands, and makes it easier to declare people “undesirable aliens.”

It will also stop refugees bringing in their families until they have lived here for two years and have a home and income.

Two-tier system

The second bill will allow officials to differentiate between people who fled their home country because of their ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion, and those who fled from war or violence, including natural disasters.

A third law will make it a crime to refuse to cooperate with deportation plans.

The three laws replace the earlier plan to introduce emergency legislation that would have allowed ministers to bypass parliament but was opposed by coalition party NSC.

Neither Faber or Wilders have yet commented on the official report.

More to follow