It's been over a year since Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders won the mandate to build a government following an election, which left the entire political landscape fractured. 

Wilders' far-right Freedom Party (PVV) took months to form a coalition with the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) party and the agrarian, populist Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) party. Wilders declined the top job of prime minister but has been busy trying to push the coalition further right behind the scenes.

The main issue in Wilders' political campaigns has always been immigration, with a particular focus on bringing down asylum numbers in the Netherlands. This one issue has also informed much of the coalition government's policies to date as a whole.

To this end, Wilders had sought to declare a nationwide state of emergency -- in order to enforce strict measures without requiring parliamentary approval. 

However, Wilders announced on X that this would not be happening after all, saying he was "very happy" with the fact that the coalition had agreed on other measures to limit asylum.

Instead, the leaders of the four government parties agreed on a series of new measures to tighten Dutch asylum law following months of heated debate.

In addition to these measures, the country is also planning the introduction of border controls as early as next month as an additional step to curb immigration.

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Asylum to be reduced to three years

According to the proposed measures, a person's asylum status will in future only remain valid for a maximum of three years at a time. If after three years their country of origin is deemed safe, it will be revoked under the proposal.

Asylum seekers will have fewer rights to appeal in court proceedings as well.

The government coalition also wants to declare at least parts of Syria safe so it can send some war refugees back to their country.

Amid a housing shortage, the proposed law will also remove the right to housing for asylum seekers -- though it is unclear so far what exactly this might entail. This comes after an earlier decree, in which the Dutch government had already declared it would no longer be providing housing for failed asylum seekers.

The Netherlands is experiencing a major housing shortage in general, with anti-migrant sentiments often being driven by this.

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Averting a government crisis

The partners in Wilders' coalition had shown great resistance against the suggestion of a state of emergency since they began governing together three months earlier.

Reaching an agreement on these measures against asylum has therefore averted a major government crisis, as there was no legal basis to push through an emergency since the number of asylum seekers coming to the country has remained stable at around 40,000 arrivals per year. 

The new measures are likely to be passed in parliament since Wilders and his coalition partners together occupy most seats.

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with dpa