Netherlands Introduces Strict Measures on Immigration to Maintain Population Below 20 Million: Government Implements Tough Policies While Extending Working Hours and Retirement Age

The Dutch government, led by Prime Minister Dick Schoof, is considering implementing limits to keep the population under 20 million as a strategy to manage migration effectively.

The government’s demographic development commission recommended a population ceiling of 19 to 20million residents by 2050, Dutch News reports. 

During a briefing to Members of Parliament, immigration minister Marjolein Faber and social affairs minister Eddy van Hijum stated their support for the idea of controlling migration to achieve this population target.

Earlier this year, the commission suggested that moderate population growth would be beneficial for economic reasons as the current population of 18 million continues to age. However, Faber and van Hijum cautioned that even this moderate growth could have adverse effects on public services.

The hard-right government had chosen the ‘toughest ever package of measures to limit asylum’ and will opt for a ‘more selective and targeted policy for all other forms of migration, including labour and education-related movement’, the ministers said.

Faber and van Hijum also requested more research into ways to control immigration, which they said was ‘clearly necessary’.

There have been repeated warnings by statisticians and economists, who said that the Netherlands needs foreign workers to combat its workforce gaps. 

The government’s advisory body on migration previously said that the country would need about three million additional immigrants to work and pay taxes by 2040 – but the council said that this was not a realistic option. 

Instead, current residents in the Netherlands would have to work more hours or retire later.

The Dutch population grew by nearly 40,000 between in the first six months of this year, according to figures by CBS, the country’s national statistics agency. 

This is one-third less than during the year prior and was reflective to low numbers of immigrants, an increase in emigration and more deaths, the agency said.

About 138,000 people moved to the Netherlands in the first six months of 2024, while 92,000 left, meaning there was a net increase in immigration of 46,000 – which is roughly 25 per cent less than during the same period in 2023.

It comes after the Netherlands said it would more tightly control its borders as part of its wider crackdown on migration.

New controls in place from December 9 will last six months after receiving backing from anti-Muslim nationalist Geert Wilders’ PVV party, the biggest in the coalition.

Measures will reportedly include limiting asylum permits to a maximum of three years, and restricting possibilities for asylum seekers who are allowed to stay to reunite with family members, it was reported.

The tough new border checks to be introduced in the Netherlands were already part of the coalition agreement the parties reached in July, following Wilders’ resounding election victory almost a year ago.

But it took the parties months to reach a compromise on the way forward, as Wilders insisted on declaring a national asylum crisis that would enable the government to bypass parliament.

Such a move, however, was opposed not only by opposition parties but also by one of the PVV’s coalition partners, who all questioned whether it was necessary or even legal.

Wilders, who triumphed in the 2023 Dutch general election to see his far-right PVV party become the largest in the House of Representatives, has also expressed support for Germany’s suggested migrant plan, announced in September.

He has struggled to gain support within the Netherlands and stepped back from his bid for prime minister in March, citing a lack of support from potential coalition partners, but has found a receptive audience through his staunch position on immigration.

‘If Germany can do it, why can’t we? As far as I’m concerned: the sooner, the better,’ he wrote.

Both the far-Right PVV and the Right-wing Liberal VDD parties have shown interest in greater border checks in line with those recently announced by Germany.

Migration minister Faber has already asked military police to begin preparations. ‘In the meantime, we are talking to Germany about working together,’ she said on social media.

Faber said she was ‘aiming for the strictest asylum policy ever’, citing issues in housing, health and education. She said her goal was to ‘legally declare an asylum crisis, which will allow me to take measures to combat’ it.  

The immigration crackdown comes as a wave of violence washed over Amsterdam in November.

The city’s police force said there had been a tense atmosphere after five people were taken to hospital on November 7 following an Ajax match against Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv, where dozens of people were detained.

Youths on scooters and on foot went in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing to evade police, according to Amsterdam’s mayor.

Police said that four other men who had been arrested last week would remain in custody while the investigation continues. 

Two of those men are minors, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old from Amsterdam. The other two men are from Amsterdam and a nearby city.

Police said they have identified more than 170 witnesses and have taken forensics evidence from dozens. 

Prime Minister Schoof said they were also examining videos posted to social media.

But the antisemitic attacks didn’t stop there. Just days later, footage emerged of thugs chanting ‘cancer Jews’ violently rampaged across the city, culminating in the torching of a tram.

A video of the tram, near the ’40-’45 Square in western Amsterdam, taken early November, showed a firework being lit inside before exploding, lighting a large fire inside and shattering a window. 

Rioters could be heard cheering as the firework went off. Local media reported that they were heard screaming chants of ‘cancer Jews’.

Leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), Geert Wilders, condemned the attack and warned: ‘After the Jew-hunt, the Intifada.’

Five people, all of them Dutch and aged between 18 and 37, were arrested for the tram attack following the latest flareup of violence, bringing the total number of people arrested to 68. 

Meanwhile, the Swiss hard-right People’s Party put forward similar plans to the one presented by the hard-right Dutch government to cap Switzerland’s population as part of an immigration crackdown.

The Swiss People’s Party (SVP) – which is the largest in the ruling coalition of four parties – launched the anti-immigration initiative last year, which was signed by more than 115,000 residents and could be on the ballot as soon as 2026.

The initiative demands that the population of those permanently living in Switzerland doesn’t exceed ten million before 2050 after the country first recorded nearly 9 million residents in 2023. 

As soon as population numbers reach nine and a half million, the initiative demands that ‘temporarily admitted persons [foreigners] shall not receive a residence or settlement permit, Swiss citizenship or any other right of residence.’

After 2050, the initiative demands that the Federal Council sets a new immigration limit based on the excess of births.

Swiss finance minister Karin Keller-Sutter has called the SVP campaign ‘dangerous’ and a threat to businesses’ ability to attract top talent from abroad.

She said at a Bloomberg event: ‘When people talk about immigration or migration, what they mean is asylum seekers. They don’t really mean the qualified staff in hospitals, the doctors we need. We couldn’t work without them.’

The population cap won’t differentiate between workers arriving from abroad and asylum seekers, which would clash with the needs of Swiss business who are reliant on talent from abroad. 

While Keller-Sutter acknowledged that it was a ‘responsibility of Swiss businesses to try to recruit Swiss people whenever possible’, Switzerland’s aging population was making this more difficult. 

In 2023, about 180,000 people immigrated into Switzerland, most of them moving for work.  

More than every fourth resident in Switzerland is a foreigner, which is one of the highest rates in Europe.