Before the EU summit in February, the government in The Hague is pushing, among other things, for asylum procedures at the external borders and the withdrawal of free trade privileges for states that obstruct the deportation of their citizens.
Under the growing pressure of irregular migration, the Dutch government is making explosive demands for the redistribution of asylum seekers within the EU. “In the spirit of solidarity, member states under disproportionate migratory pressure should be supported by other member states, either through financial contributions, operational support, or through relocation,” says an informal paper from The Hague, circulated among other member states and the “Presse”. present. It aims to inspire the debate before the European Council on February 9th and 10th; there, the migration and asylum crisis will be one of the focal points of the debates of the 27 heads of state and government.
The Dutch are addressing the most politically difficult problem in European asylum policy: in some member states, the numbers of irregular migrants and registered asylum seekers are piling up, while others hardly have any to deal with. The first group includes the border states of Italy and Greece as well as the destination countries of the migrants, above all Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Belgium. The second concerns the former Warsaw Pact countries, above all Hungary. But the EU failed to set a mandatory quota for the admission of asylum seekers after the crisis year 2015. And since then, every rotating EU Council Presidency has been gritting its teeth on the question of how voluntary solidarity between the member states can be established in the care of the unequally distributed asylum seekers the end.