The Dutch Senate will support a law to distribute asylum seekers evenly across municipalities in the Netherlands, it announced in a surprising U-turn on Tuesday (January 16).

Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte' conservative party members in the Senate said they would support the law, allowing for a decisive majority in the upper chamber.

The law is aimed at helping to resolve the shortage of accommodation for asylum seekers, which has forced hundreds of people to sleep rough.

Almost a third of Dutch municipalities (111 of the 342) have not sheltered a single asylum seeker in the past 12 years, Dutch local media reported, citing figures from by the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum seekers. Several reluctant municipalities claiming they don’t have room to take in asylum seekers did have room to shelter Ukrainian refugees, RTV Noord reported. More municipalities would be required to take in refugees to relieve the overcrowded Ter Apel shelter in the north of the country.

The law on the distribution of asylum seekers had been adopted by the lower legislative body before the November 22 election won by the far-right, anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders, which strongly resisted the legislation.

Almost two months later, the four prospective government parties are trying to come to an agreement. If they reach a deal, they would be forced to consider the law that the Senate is now set to adopt on January 23.

Ruben Brekelmans, a VVD lawmaker in the lower chamber, said he wished the Senate had waited for an agreement on stricter migration policies before handling the distribution of asylum seekers. 

Law raises hopes for structural reforms

The Dutch refugee non-profit VluchtelingenWerk Nederland welcomed the move on Tuesday.

"A hopeful breakthrough! The majority of parties are aware of the need to organize good shelter and that is encouraging," VluchtelingenWerk chairperson Frank Candel announced in response to the adoption of the law, praising the senators for focusing on the "realistic solutions" in a "polarized debate." 

Citing two years of poor living conditions for thousands of refugees in the Netherlands in increasingly deteriorating conditions, the non-profit said the law offers the opportunity to finally make structural change and ensures that emergency locations "do not become the new status quo." 

"By distributing reception more fairly across the Netherlands, small-scale locations can be considered that are more central and give refugees more opportunities to integrate more quickly into society," VluchtelingenWerk said in a press release.

The Netherlands' swing to the right

In November, the anti-Islam and anti-migrant Wilders secured a huge victory in Dutch national elections, winning 37 of the 150 seats in the Dutch Parliament.

Wilders' party called for a "freeze on asylum" in the Netherlands, citing an "Islamic invasion" of the West. Wilders' anti-migrant rhetoric is widely believed to have pushed him ahead in the polls.

The PVV’s manifesto states that "The influx of asylum seekers costs Dutch taxpayers €24 billion a year," criticizing that "illegal immigrants" are "pampered."

"Asylum seekers feast on free delicious buffets on luxury cruise ships, while Dutch families have to cut back on grocery spending. Healthcare that is unaffordable for many Dutch people is provided free of charge to asylum seekers," the program says.

Wilders has been convicted of insulting a group and inciting discrimination after calling Moroccans "scum."

With AP