Amsterdam’s refugee chief says no to working with PVV – DutchNews.nl

Amsterdam’s social affairs chief Rutger Groot Wassink has resigned as chairman of the Dutch local authorities asylum committee, saying he will not work with a cabinet that includes the far-right PVV.

GroenLinks member Groot Wassink is in charge of the Dutch capital’s refugee strategy, but told the Parool “I don’t want to normalise what is abnormal”.

“The PVV is an extreme right-wing party which poses a threat to democracy and the rule of law,” Groot Wassink said.

Mayor Femke Halsema and other Amsterdam officials said they “understood” Groot Wassink’s position.

Groot Wassink has worked closely with outgoing refugee minister Eric van der Burg to organise emergency beds for new arrivals and permanent accommodation for those who have been given residency permits.

The new cabinet has already agreed to scrap legislation requiring all local authorities to take their fair share of refugees and wants to introduce tough new rules to limit both asylum seeker and migrant worker numbers.

According to the coalition agreement, the right-wing government will impose “the toughest regime for admitting refugees and the broadest package to get a grip on migration ever”. But many of their suggestions so far conflict with current laws and treaties.

Groot Wassink told the paper he thinks very little will come of the cabinet’s plans. “Then the refugees will be blamed, and so will the courts, civil servants, and ultimately the press,” he said.

“We are taking a very great risk at placing a party which is inherently undemocratic and extremely dubious views, to put it mildly, at the centre of power,” he said.

Prospective asylum minister Marjolein Faber on Monday retracted her use of Nazi-era language on immigration but insisted her concerns about the impact of asylum on the “demographics of the Netherlands” were well founded.