Dutch aim for migration clampdown as government sees ‘asylum crisis’

(Reuters) The Dutch government said on Friday it aimed to implement measures to limit migration in the coming months, including a moratorium on all new applications, days after Germany announced new border controls to keep out unwanted migrants.

The new government, led by nationalist Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam PVV party, said it would declare a national asylum crisis, enabling it to take measures to curb migration without parliamentary consent.

Opposition parties have questioned whether the move is necessary or even legal, but the PVV’s migration minister Marjolein Faber said she was acting on opportunities granted by the country’s own migration laws.

“We are taking measures to make the Netherlands as unattractive as possible for asylum seekers,” Faber said in a statement.

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