The Netherlands sent shockwaves to the European Union this week after requesting to opt out of the bloc’s fundamentalmigration rules.
The Dutch migration minister Marjolein Faber wrote to the European Commission to make the stunning request, adding: “We have to handle our own asylum policy once more!”
Last week, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof unveiled the country’s new immigration policy in response to an “asylum crisis”. Mr Schoof said the Netherlands was aiming to implement the “strictest asylum policy ever,” adding: “We cannot continue to bear the large influx of migrants into our country.”
Following the request, Hungary said it would follow suit and also ask for opt-out from the European Union’s migration policies, amid concerns in Brussels that the Dutch request could be the start of a domino effect.
This comes just a week after Germany announced to impose strict controls on the country’s land borders, effectively suspending the Schengen Zone.
Speaking to Talk TV’s Alex Phillips, political theorist and professor Ralph Schoellhammer said the EU’s migration rules “could be the end” of the bloc.
He said: “It is a watershed moment. If the Dutch get the exemption they are asking for, other countries will follow.
“The troubles the Dutch are seeing are also happening in other countries in Europe. We see in Germany, communities are breaking under the pressure of mass migration. In Austria, in the urban areas, it is the same.”
The political expert added: “Either the EU changes its total approach to migration and admits it did something wrong – or you have one country after another asking for an exemption – and the exemption eventually becomes the rule.”
He remarked that the Schengen Zone, with free movement and no controls at the internal border, “is now basically an optional agreement” after Germany’s decision.
Mr Schoellhammer said: “Countries like Germany are opting in and out as they please because they can’t control the flow of migrants. If you don’t protect the external borders, you will get new borders inside the EU.
“This will all have a huge impact on the legitimacy of the EU as an institution. This could be the end of the European Union as a project.”
The political expert said that there were signs that opinions inside Brussels were changing. He added: “Slowly but surely, there are signs that the EU is taking a harsher course, but the question is whether it is too late.”
Despite Mr Schoellhammer’s claims of change inside Brussels, the EU immediately shut down the Dutch request to opt out of plans to redistribute asylum-seekers evenly throughout the bloc.
Anitta Hipper, a commission spokeswoman for home affairs, migration and internal security, said: “We do not expect any immediate changes under new rules on the side of migration which continue to be binding on the Netherlands.”
However, the Dutch are refusing to give up on the demand. The veteran anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, who won the most votes at the last election, wrote that Ms Faber had “made history” with the opt-out request.