On Tuesday (January 23), the new law cleared the final parliamentary hurdle despite fierce opposition from radical right-wing parties. The upper house, or Senate, voted in favor of the law with a clear majority.

The legislation seeks to ensure that asylum seekers are distributed more evenly across the country. If necessary, local authorities can also be forced to accept people.

The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, had already voted in favor of the law last year. However, the extreme right-wing parties in particular are strictly opposed to the law. They want a drastic reduction in the number of new asylum seekers.

Also read: Dutch senate to support even distribution of asylum seekers across Netherlands

New law disrupts right-wing coalition talks

The passing of the law also complicates the current coalition talks between four right-wing parties. Right-wing populist Geert Wilders in particular, who would like to become the new prime minister, has stated that the law is a "major problem" for the talks. His far-right party PVV, which has been widely criticized for its anti-Islam and anti-EU stance, won the Dutch elections by a landslide in November with 37 out of 150 seats.

The four potential coalition partners had previously declared that they wanted to drastically reduce the influx of migrants. But then, surprisingly, the members of parliament (MPs) of the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) decided to vote in favor of the law after all, against the wishes of their party leadership.

Around 50,000 asylum seekers arrived in the Netherlands last year. The majority of these are relatives of people who have already been admitted.

Currently, there is far too little space in the reception centers due to drastic government cuts and a lack of housing. Many municipalities are refusing to temporarily accommodate people.

Earlier this month, Dutch local media reported a third of the country's municipalities (111 of the 342) have not sheltered a single asylum seeker in the past 12 years. RTV Noord meanwhile reported that several municipalities who have claimed that they have no space to take in asylum seekers, did have room to shelter Ukrainian refugees.

The Netherlands veers to the right

The PVV has gained unprecedented support due to an economic and social crisis in the country, which many blame on the previous government led by Mark Rutte. This trend towards populism and far-right extremism is not unique to the Netherlands and has been growing across Europe.

European voters are increasingly supporting far-right politicians who are pushing anti-immigration policies and, in some cases, seek to restrict democratic freedoms, among other things.

Protests in Germany last week show how the far-right has become both more visible and a greater threat to democratic values and human rights.

Also read: Netherlands: Anti-migrant, anti-Islam party sweeps to victory

With dpa