From Paris to Berlin, populations are rebelling against migration policy projects which, according to them, mark the victory of the “extreme right”. In France, four days before an expected decision from the Constitutional Council on January 25, more than 150 rallies are planned for Sunday, January 21 against the promulgation of the “immigration” law, adopted last December by parliamentarians.
In Germany, some 250,000 people demonstrated this Saturday against a plan for the mass expulsion of foreigners carried out by members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. This Sunday again, tens of thousands of people are once again expected in the streets of Berlin, Munich and Cologne.
One country, although it borders Germany, seems to deviate – for the moment – from this anti-establishment trend in Europe: the Netherlands. The country is “overflowing”, in the words of its Prime Minister Geert Wilders on X. The Dutch populist supports an outright end to asylum and a very restrictive immigration policy.
More than 400,000 migrants in 2022
A theme that marked the legislative elections of November 22, 2023, in which the Party for Freedom (PVV) led by Geert Wilders came in first. But which, moreover, is currently shaking the small country of 17.9 million inhabitants, while an independent commission issued a report on January 15 on the demographic situation of the kingdom.
The body, named Demographic Development 2050, was mandated in 2022 by the deputies of the previous Parliament. And the report seems to coincide with the ideas of the current head of government, since it advocates “a limited increase in the population” in order to preserve the economy and well-being of the country.
The commission suggests supervision and a strong limitation of immigration, with greater selectivity for foreign labor. As a reminder, the Netherlands welcomed more than 406,000 people including 108,000 refugees from Ukraine in 2022, according to Dutch government figures. This is 60% more than in 2021. If this development were to continue without being limited, the country could have up to 23 million inhabitants in 2050, predicts the commission led by Richard van Zwol, a member of the Board of state.
Negotiations for a new government
According to the most extreme of the three scenarios studied by the independence body, 45% of the population would then be of foreign origin, compared to 26% if immigration were more controlled, we can read in The world. “The Netherlands is already one of the smallest and most densely populated countries [d’Europe]we cannot continue like this,” insisted Richard van Zwol when the report was published.
The commission therefore suggests a limitation to 40,000, or 60,000 maximum, of the number of foreigners admitted each year so that the country’s economy “continues to function” and public services remain “manageable”.
This report comes in the midst of negotiations on the formation of the new executive. Geert Wilders, head of the PVV, still hopes to form a coalition with three other parties from the center and the far right with whom he shares certain positions. “The PVV, the VVD [Parti populaire pour la liberté et la démocratie]the N.S.C. [Nouveau Contrat social] and the BBB [Mouvement agriculteur-citoyen] all want to ‘strengthen immigration control'”, specifies the Dutch daily NRC (liberal).
In the Netherlands, “the time when limiting immigration was essentially a right-wing electoral theme seems to be over,” observes From Volkskrant (center-left). This is evidenced in particular by the change in tone of the VVD, now led by Dilan Yesilgöz, who succeeded Mark Rutte. Daughter of refugees, she also promised to reduce immigration.