Impact of Dutch coalition programme and EU Migration Pact on judicial system
Mark Klaassen recently gave a lecture at the Aliens Division of the Court of Rotterdam on the impact on the judicial system of the Dutch cabinet’s plans on immigration and asylum and the future implementation of the EU Migration Pact.
Klaassen placed the cabinet's plans in the context of the development of EU migration and asylum policy over the past 40 years. The origin of cooperation in this contentious policy area was the elimination of border controls. To counter the negative effects of stopping border controls, EU Member States felt the need to develop common policies in the field of immigration and asylum, among others. One of the aims of these policies was to prevent Member States with increasingly stringent immigration and asylum policies from gaining an advantage over other countries when it comes to restrictions.
In this context, during the conclusion of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, the governing parties drew up a coalition programme which aims to give the Netherlands ‘the strictest asylum policy ever’. The intention is that it will become less attractive as a country of settlement for asylum seekers. In his lecture, Klaassen pointed out that this clearly goes against the original aim of a common immigration and asylum policy.
Whereas the coalition programme aims to give the Netherlands a stricter image compared to other Member States, developments at EU level are going in exactly the opposite direction. The instruments of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum actually provide for a much more far-reaching Europeanisation of asylum law. Where the Common European Asylum System currently consists of directives, most of these will become regulations that will be directly applicable in Dutch immigration law.
The judicial implications of both the coalition programme and the introduction of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum are significant. The restrictive policy proposals in the coalition programme will create increasingly complicated procedures. In particular, the introduction of the dual status system will ensure continued litigation after the granting of subsidiary protection status. The new policy on family reunification to be developed for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection will require a more complex assessment of interests than at present. The tighter the laws and regulations become, the further the boundaries of European law will be pushed. As a result, even more pressure will be placed on the judicial system which is already struggling.
Photo: USGS on Unsplash