The caretaker cabinet has been given the green light by the House of Representatives to continue with its plans in the area of asylum and migration. For example, next week there will already be a debate about the asylum emergency measures law of the resigned PVV minister Marjolein Faber.
After the fall of a cabinet, the question is always which topics a caretaker cabinet can still work on and which plans must wait for a new cabinet. On Thursday, the special asylum committee of the House of Representatives debated all plans for asylum and migration.
That committee has given the green light for all plans that had already been set in motion before the cabinet fell. This includes the strict asylum laws that Faber had submitted or a law that should abolish the penalty payments at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).
Only GL-PvdA, DENK, and SP wanted to pause certain laws and letters. But those calls did not get a majority.
It is no surprise that the caretaker cabinet can continue with the asylum plans. During a debate about the fall of the cabinet, a majority of the House of Representatives had already indicated that they wanted to continue with at least Faber’s asylum laws. The PVV, which stepped out of the coalition out of dissatisfaction with the asylum policy, also wanted that.
Parliament deals with asylum laws before the summer recess
The approval does not mean that all parties are also satisfied with the plans. There must still be debated about them. The House of Representatives wants to debate Faber’s strict asylum laws as soon as possible. A motion was passed on Tuesday to discuss the laws before the summer recess, which begins on Friday, July 4.
The debate on the asylum emergency measures law is already next week Thursday. It is not yet known when the debate on the other law (the so-called two-status system) will be scheduled exactly.
Former minister Faber must leave the debates to her successors. There was still much to do about who those would be. VVD, NSC, and BBB were all vying for the ministerial post. Ultimately, the parties decided to divide the dossier into three.
This week, the House of Representatives is also debating in all committees about declaring all other topics that the cabinet was working on as controversial. In two weeks, the House of Representatives will vote again in its entirety on only the plans that have been declared controversial.
Also, the special committees can also declare new topics as controversial in the coming time. The list of topics that the caretaker cabinet can still work on may therefore still change.