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A speech by the Dutch king on Tuesday is to lay out the new government's plans for the coming year as members of the hard right-led coalition bicker over its plans to drastically slash migration.
The day, marked by pageantry as the royals are driven through The Hague in ornate horse-drawn carriages, also brings the first major test of a technocratic new government chosen by the right-wing parties that triumphed in last year's elections.
King Willem-Alexander’s speech to lawmakers from both houses of the Dutch parliament is written by the government and lays out legislative plans and the budget for the coming year.
On Monday, a senior member of a party in the coalition said she would oppose the government's plans to rein in immigration if a key political advisory panel rejects them.
The comments Monday by Nicolien van Vroonhoven of the New Social Contract party triggered angry reactions from Geert Wilders ’s populist anti-immigration Party for Freedom, which won national elections last year, and the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.
The spat underscored the fragility of a coalition that was pulled together after months of negotiations. Prime Minister Dick Schoof was eventually chosen to head a cabinet made up of politicians and civil servants because the leaders did not want the outspoken Wilders as prime minister.
While the government seeks consensus on a deal to drastically dial back immigration, a town in the northern Netherlands opened a sports hall overnight to accommodate asylum seekers who otherwise would have been forced to sleep outdoors because of a shortage of space at a reception center.
The mayor of Ter Apel accused Margriet Faber, the minister responsible for asylum seekers and migrants, of allowing an accomdation crisis to escalate.
“The minister is shunning her responsibility. She is responsible for people who come to the Netherlands for asylum. She has had enough time and sufficient opportunity to accommodate people in a decent way. She consciously does not do this,” mayor Jaap Velema said in a statement Monday.
The government is planning to declare an “asylum crisis” to pave the way for tougher measures including reining in visas for family members of people granted asylum and making it easier and quicker to deport migrants who are not eligible for asylum.
The government also plans to apply for an opt-out from European Union migration rules and step up border check following similar moves implemented Monday by neighboring Germany. It remains unclear how many of the Dutch government's plans can be enforced.
