Dutch Senate declares asylum distribution law not controversial

The asylum distribution law aimed at ensuring a fair distribution of asylum seekers among municipalities in the Netherlands will be handled by the Dutch Senate. A motion by SGP Senator Diederik van Dijk to postpone the law until a new Cabinet is in place failed to secure a majority on Tuesday in the Eerste Kamer, the upper house of the Dutch parliament.

A total of 21 senators wanted the asylum distribution law controversial, whereas 54 senators did not. Consequently, the law is not considered controversial and will be debated by the chamber. The BBB played a pivotal role in this decision; the party’s 16 senators initially supported the SGP’s motion but changed their stance on Tuesday. Before the vote, BBB Senator Ilona Lagas stated that although the BBB faction is “very critical” of the law, declaring it controversial “does not solve the societal deadlock.”

The single-member parties 50PLUS and ONL also voted against the motion, and their positions were previously unclear. The 36 senators from GroenLinks-PvdA, CDA, D66, SP, ChristenUnie, PvvD, and Volt were already against declaring the law controversial. The 21 votes in favor of the motion came from senators of the VVD, PVV, SGP, FvD, and JA21.

A majority of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, approved the asylum distribution law on October 10. The law was proposed by State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Eric van der Burg, who was temporarily replaced by his colleague Christophe van der Maat due to illness.

The law’s main contention lies in its coercive element, as it can force municipalities to accommodate asylum seekers if they refuse to do so.