Working title: Wisdom comes with ages? A research about the Dutch asylum policy over the last twenty years and the effects on the lower levels of administration. Name: Kirsten van Adrichem Student number: 11064854 Supervisor: Doomernik Course: Politics of International Migration and Asylum Date: 24-06-2016 Preface What can change in twenty years? This research answers this question with: a lot. In the last twenty years the Dutch asylum policy made some big changes. Not only because of the influence of Europe but also from the influence of lower levels of administration. On the different level there was a restriction of the policy, while on the other level there was an opening up of the policy. Central in this research is the effect of these changes on the lower levels of administration (provinces and municipalities: did they got more tasks? Or did they lose some? This effect is being researched with a liberal paradox: is there more Europeanization or decentralization? Another theory used in this research is a paradox between the restriction of the asylum policy and an opening up of the policy. With a timeline from 2006 till 2015 the author describes the changes of the asylum policy on three four levels: the European level, the national (Dutch) level, the level of the Dutch provinces and the level of the Dutch municipalities. The choice has been made to research the asylum policy in the Netherlands because these lower levels of administration. This research concludes that Europeanization actually only happens on a national level. Europe has (almost) no effect on the lower levels of administration. The role and influence of the lowest level of administration, the municipalities, has become bigger in the last twenty years. And that while the province has a minimal task in the Dutch asylum policy. The opening up of the asylum policy can mostly be found on a European level, while the national level restricted the asylum policy. 2 Table of contents 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Definition of the problem 7 2. Literature review 9 3. Theory 10 3.1 Europeanization versus decentralization 11 3.2 Restriction versus opening up 12 4. Methodology 15 4.1 Conceptualization 15 5. 1996 – 2000 18 5.1 Europe 18 5.2 National level 25 5.3 Province 29 5.4 Municipalities 30 5.5 Conclusion 32 6. 2001 – 2005 33 6.1 Europe 33 6.2 National level 37 6.3 Province 46 6.4 Municipalities 47 6.5 Conclusion 52 7. 2006 – 2010 52 7.1 Europe 53 7.2 National level 56 7.3 Province 61 7.4 Municipalities 62 7.5 Conclusion 63 8. 2011 – 2015 64 8.1 Europe 64 8.2 National level 66 8.3 Province 80 8.4. Municipalities 81 8.5 Conclusion 85 3 9. Concluding remarks 86 9.1 The future? 87 10. References 89 11. Appendix 91 4 Abbreviations Ama Alleenstaande minderjarige asielzoekers – single minor asylum seekers CD Centrumdemocraten – Extreme right party CDA Christen Democratisch Appèl – Christian Democratic Party CEAS Common European Asylum System CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy COA Centraal Orgaan opvang Asielzoekers – Central organ for the reception of asylum seekers CU ChristenUnie – Christian Union, Christian party CRvB Centrale Raad van Beroep – The Administrative High Court D66 Democraten ’66 – Democrats ’66, social liberal party ECJ European Court of Justice ECSR European Committee of Social Rights EP European Parliament ESF European Social Fund ERF European Refugee Fund EU European Union FNV Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging – Federation of Dutch unions, largest labour union in the Netherlands GL GroenLinks – GreenLeft, progressive environmental party IMA Informatie- en Meldpunt Asiel – Information and Hotline for Asylum IND Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst – Immigration and Naturalization Service INLIA Internationaal Netwerk van Lokale Initatieven voor Asielzoekers – International Network of Local Initiatives for Asylum seekers IpO Interprovinciaal Overleg – Interprovincial Council JHA Department of Justice and Home Affairs HLWG High level working group LPF Lijst Pim Fortuyn – List Pim Fortuyn MP Member of the Dutch Parliament MEP Member of the European Parliament PvdA Partij van de Arbeid – Dutch Labour Party, socialist party PvdD Partij voor de Dieren – Party for the Animals PVV Partij voor de Vrijheid – Party for the Freedom, populist party RPF Reformatische Politieke Federatie – Reformed Political Federation, protestant-Christian party RvS Raad van State – The Council of State SGP Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij – Reformed Political Party, reformist and Christian party SP Socialistische Partij – Socialist Party, socialist (and Eurosceptic) party UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UvW Unie van Waterschappen – Union of Water authorities VDG Vereniging Drentse Gemeenten – Cooperation of Drents Municipalities 5 VFG Vereniging Friese Gemeenten – Cooperation of Fries Municipalities VNG Verenigde Nederlandse Gemeenten – Cooperation of Dutch Municipalities VROM Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer – Ministery of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment. VVD Volkspartij voor de Vrijheid en Democratie – Party for the Freedom and Democracy, liberal party VWN VluchtelingenWerk Nederland – Refugee Help Netherlands VZG Vereniging van Zeeuwse Gemeenten – Cooperation of Zeeland Municipalities WODC Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Documentatiecentrum – Scientific Research and Documentation Centre QMV Qualified Majority Voting 6 1. Introduction Currently Europe is facing a large stream of migrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea. According to FRONTEX, the EU external border control agency, approximately 1.8 million refugees crossed the European borders, often in danger of their own life1. Since the previous big stream of migrants there were made a lot of changes in (asylum) policy on the European mainland. This last big stream of migrants lasted from approximately 1988 till 1997. In this period there were almost 2.3 million asylum applications in France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom alone (Schuster, 2000: 122). This stream finds its origin in the Bosnian conflict, the Kosovo crisis and the war in Afghanistan (Thielemann, 2004: 49). Since that time there were a lot of changes in laws and policy to contain the numbers of migrants that were travelling to Europe. These changes occurred as well on the European level, as the national level of the European states. In this thesis one European state will be researched: the Netherlands. The reason for this choice is that the Dutch asylum policy can be one of the strictest asylum policies in the EU.2 In this particular case I will look at the reason why the asylum policy has changed in one European state: the Netherlands. Currently in the Netherlands (and actually whole of Europe) the inflow of asylum seekers is a big issue, not only in politics but also in society. Lower levels of administration are getting more and more tasks in the Netherlands in different areas due to decentralisation. But on the other hand there is Europeanization, tasks are being transferred from a national level to an European level. For this thesis I have chosen to research the lower levels of administration because they not only have to deal with the national policy, but also with the European policy. 1.1 Definition of the problem There is a huge gap in the literature when we are looking at the current stream of migrants. A lot literature focuses on the stream of migrants between 1988 and 1997, which led to a huge number of publications from 2000 till 2006. The current gap can be partly explained with the facts that the current stream is still ongoing and there isn’t a very good overview of exact numbers and data on the stream of migrants traveling to Europe. But still, a comparison can 1 BBC, 18-02-2016. Available at <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911> (checked on 09-03- 2016) 2 Nu.nl, 04-02-2016. “Asielbeleid Nederland hoort bij strengste van EU-landen. Available at <http://www.nu.nl/algemeen/4208989/asielbeleid-nederland-hoort-bij-strengste-van-eu-landen.html> (checked on 21-06-2016) 7 be made between the current stream in migrants and the one between 1988 and 1997, especially when we are looking at the changes that happened between the current stream of migrants and the stream of 1988-1997. This change in asylum policy is having a huge effect on the national policy and politics in the European states. If we look to the Netherlands, this effect goes all the way down until the lowest level of administration, the municipalities. There is some literature about the effects of the change of asylum policy on the national level and the level of the municipalities, but almost none on the level of the provinces. One of the reasons to write this thesis is to identify these changes and how the role of these actors has changed since the migrant stream of 1988-1997. Central to this subject is to identify the reasons why this policy has changed. The changing role of politics is also playing a part in this effect. Since the large big stream of migrants there was (and still is) a rise of populism, not only in the Netherlands, but all over Europe. This populism in politics often changes the debate about refugees and migrants, not only on the national level, but also on the lower levels of administration. There is some literature by Van Selm about the role of politics and government on the changing asylum policy in the Netherlands (Van Selm, 2000). Also some specific cases that are looking into the asylum and migration policy in the Netherlands underline the role of politics in this debate. Especially the rise of politician Pim Fortuyn with his new political party Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) has a central role in the debate about politics, but also the rise of Geert Wilders (Bruquetas-Callejo et al., 2011: 147; Fekete, 2005: 70; RMO, 2011: 21).