European Parliament election debate on Development and Migration, The Hague, 14 May 2019

Photo credits: Hiske van der Gronden

After a short opening by the chairman of the day Kido Koenig, the meeting was officially opened with an introduction by Kees Zevenbergen, CEO of Cordaid. He referred to the establishment of Cordaid and its contribution to the reception of Belgian refugees during the First World War. Cordaid has always paid attention to refugees and migrants and will continue to do so, both in fragile countries and in the . Koos Richelle of the Advisory Council on Migration Affairs then gave a solid overview of Europe's struggle with migration. Finally, Bob van Dillen, Cordaid's migration advisor, gave an introduction on the research report and the policy recommendations. These fall under three pillars: (1) addressing the drivers and root causes of forced migration; (2) creating safe and legal migration routes and promoting participation and integration; and (3) promoting the contribution of migrants to sustainable development.

After the break, the political debate started. Five MEPs were invited (from left): Thijs Reuten (PvdA), (D66), (GroenLinks), Roelien Kamminga (VVD) and Diederik van der Loo (SP) who debated six statements. The first statement was about solidarity within Europe and that migrants should be distributed proportionally among the countries within the EU. All five speakers were more or less in agreement, although Kamminga felt that they should be received first and foremost in the region and Van der Loo particularly emphasised that (financial) penalties should be imposed if member states were not prepared to share in the responsibility for receiving people in solidarity.

Another statement was about the value that migrants make to Dutch society. Here, too, everyone agreed with each other reasonably well and found, among others, Rafaela and Reuten find that migrants make a contribution to society and that the Netherlands has become as it is today, partly thanks to a large number of migrants. Van der Loo emphasized that economic migration does not always have a positive effect because migration sometimes leads to exploitation.

The second last statement called on the Netherlands on the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire to support the reception of Venezuelan refugees, and all parties agreed During the lunch before the meeting and the drinks afterwards there was time for with this. The Netherlands must support the islands within the participants and speakers to network. the Kingdom with financial resources and with knowledge and expertise, Rafaela said. Strik referred to her (adopted) motion in the Senate, which also called for this.

Lastly, a debate was initiated on the phenomenon of dual nationality. The audience, in particular, seized this last statement to express their opinions. According to several parties, this discussion on dual nationality should be over and we should recognise the value of having two passports. Van der Loo reminded that countries such as Morocco and Turkey do not allow the surrender of a passport..

At the end, all the candidate MEPs were allowed to make one Upon arrival the participants final statement. What emerged clearly on this day was the received a folder with the research importance of cooperation within Europe. This is desperately report that was launched and a needed in order to finally arrive at a good and humane migration brochure about Cordaid's work with and development policies. refugees.

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