The Netherlands has notified the EU of its waiver of migration rules, the country’s migration minister announced on Wednesday.
Marjolein Faber said:
I have just informed the EU Commission that I want a migration opt-out within Europe for the Netherlands. We need to be in charge of our own asylum policy again!
Faber announced on Tuesday that the government was allocating an additional 95 million euros ($107.72 million) to support the country’s strictest asylum policy in history. She also said:
The Netherlands cannot cope with the high influx of asylum seekers. Something must be done to deal with this crisis.
According to EU data, the Netherlands has two asylum applications per 1,000 inhabitants in 2023, which is below the union average.
Opt-out is a means of ensuring that if an EU member state does not want to participate in an area of union policy, it can opt out, thus avoiding a general deadlock.
Earlier, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser ordered the introduction of controls at the country’s internal borders. German authorities expect such a measure to become “a model for the effective expulsion of illegal migrants.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed support for the German government’s move.
Discussions on migration policy emerged in the EU countries after the terrorist attack in the city of Solingen on August 23, during which a man attacked festival visitors with a knife.
