Disagreements over asylum policy were the reason for the collapse of the Dutch government in July, and the main issue on the minds of millions of voters today when they go to the polls. In the final stretch of the campaign, both the candidate of the ecosocial-democratic alliance (PvdA-GroenLinks), Frans Timmermans, and the centrist Pieter Omtzigt have charged strongly against the “failure” of the migration policy of the coalition led by the Liberal Party VVD, and have proposed, firstly, “better management”, and secondly, to limit the net arrival of foreigners (refugees, economic emigrants or students) to 50,000 a year, a third of the recorded average the last years
Many Dutch people decide their vote at the last minute and this year, with the three main candidates very evenly matched, the uncertainty about the result is total, although in terms of migration policy practically all are betting on measures to limit the number of receptions. Yesterday afternoon, Geert, a retired resident of Oldebroek, was still in doubt, but like millions of residents in the ultra-conservative Bible Belt region of the Netherlands, his ballot will either go for the Christian Union ( UC ), good for the Calvinist party SGP.
“It is good that there is a Christian influence in The Hague. There are other parties that I like, but for me this is fundamental”, confides this voter while working in the garden of his house, a charming traditional construction with a thatched roof from 1841. The village of Oldebroek is in the eye of the hurricane for months due to strong local opposition to the Dutch Government’s plans to build a new center for asylum seekers. “As Christians, we have to help people, but taking certain proportions into account,” he says.
Herein lies the crux of the problem: the lack of means on a national scale to respond to demand and the problems for each region to do its part. According to data from the state asylum agency published in 2022, the efforts of Dutch municipalities to accommodate asylum seekers have been very uneven over the past 10 years. More than half of the total, especially the wealthiest, have not offered any kind of reception, and the strict Christian communities of the Bible belt are among the least open, while in the north, in the province of Groningen, the center of Ter Apel’s reception is overflowing.
In Carrer d’Oldebroek, where it is planned to build the center by expanding an old hostel in a protected area, many residents resist the initiative and have filled the gardens with posters that make their opposition clear, but they prefer not to talk to the press “They don’t like how the issue is being treated. It seems as if we are selfish rich people who only want to protect our property instead of helping people in need,” explains Jannetta Dorsman, spokesperson for the Geen AZC platform, who recalls that the village has hosted refugees in the past and ‘experience has not always been good.
“If you ask the people here if they want to help war refugees, everyone will say yes”, but the new centre, he maintains, would welcome economic immigrants. “Single men, minors from safe countries in North Africa, and we already know what happens in other cities when these types of people get together, that there are robberies, assaults, intimidation of young women… That’s why no City Council wants to have them”. In addition, she continues, the area is not ideal for people coming from conflict zones: the Dutch army conducts daily maneuvers with high explosives, which “can harm the mental health of those migrants”, warns the neighborhood spokesperson, who insists on the “disproportion” of wanting to install 350 foreigners, twice as many residents of the street in question.
La Griet, Calvinist, conservative voter and owner of a house near the potential center, is not opposed to the initiative. “That’s why I haven’t put any sign in the garden”, he explains. She had no problems when young people stayed at that center years ago. And “as Christians, there are very clear guidelines on how we should treat outsiders. If I had to flee a war, I would also want them to help me”, says this voter. “But there must be limits, the reception should be temporary, as with the Ukrainians”, points out this voter, aware, however, that wars and inequalities are not as easy to put up and take down as a flag.
