- Immigrant Times
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
The winner of the Dutch general elections proposes a humane but controlled immigration approach
For the Netherlands’ incoming coalition government, the challenge will be delivering on promises of a humane control of immigration
By The Immigrant Times
Rob Jetten, the victor of the Netherlands’ general election on 29 October 2025, proposes an immigration approach that could serve as a role model for Europe. (Photo: Hollandse Hoogte / Co de Kruijf)
November 2025: The Netherlands’ new political landscape, following the parliamentary election victory of Rob Jetten’s liberal-progressive D66 party, marks a crucial turning point in Europe’s immigration debate. While Jetten promises to “regain control” of migration, his party’s message sharply contrasts with the exclusionary rhetoric of Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right PVV party. While both speak of control, their definitions could not be more different.
Managing immigration humanely
The D66, long known for its socially liberal values, has undergone a notable shift in tone since the fall of the Netherlands’ government in June 2025. Rob Jetten, 38, has acknowledged public frustration over migration pressures but insists the solution lies in better governance, not isolationism.
“The current migration system is broken,” Jetten said in June. “We must shift from migration that happens to us, to migration we control.”
Under his plan, asylum applications would be processed outside the European Union (EU) in safe third countries, a “Canadian model” intended to deter dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean. At the same time, D66 emphasises that people who are admitted should integrate more quickly, starting Dutch language lessons “from day one” and gaining faster access to work and education.
“We want newcomers, whether they come here to study, for asylum or work, or for love, to know where they stand,” Jetten told Dutch News in October 2025. “That way they’ll do their best to integrate and be part of Dutch society.”
D66’s platform also highlights labour migration, a topic often drowned out by the asylum debate. “We need to talk more about labour migration … and crack down much harder on employers and agencies that break the rules,” Jetten said, signalling that the party wants both humane asylum policy and stricter enforcement of labour standards.
Though the party has tightened its stance on deportations and enforcement, calling for faster removal of those who have no right to stay, its overall message remains one of managed openness rather than closure. “Migration is not something to fear,” Jetten has argued, “but something we must organise well.”
The far-right describes immigration as a threat to Dutch ‘values’
On the opposite end of the political spectrum stands Geert Wilders’ Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), whose campaign once again placed immigration and cultural identity at the forefront. For years, Wilders has warned that mass immigration, particularly from Muslim countries, threatens Dutch identity and social cohesion.
“If we always open our borders, we never ask people to integrate into society fully,” Wilders said earlier this year. “They will not talk our language, and they will treat women or Jews or homosexuals in a way that we would not accept.”
Wilders’ proposals include suspending family reunification, banning immigration from Islamic countries, deploying the army at borders, and even encouraging ‘voluntary remigration’. He frames these measures as a defence of Dutch culture rather than as xenophobia, but human-rights groups have denounced them as discriminatory.
“Our patience has run out,” Wilders declared after he withdrew his party from the coalition government in June.
Defining control
Both Jetten and Wilders use the language of ‘control’, but where Jetten sees it as a tool for fairness and efficiency, Wilders uses it to justify exclusion. D66 proposes a balance between compassion and regulation: faster integration for those admitted, swifter deportation for those not. The PVV seeks near-total closure of the Dutch borders to non-Western immigration, particularly from Muslim countries.
The contrast reveals a deeper philosophical divide in Dutch politics. For D66, migration is an inevitable and manageable part of a globalised world. For the PVV, it is a fundamental threat to national identity.
Fazit
For the Netherlands’ incoming coalition government, the challenge will be delivering on promises of ‘humane control’ without succumbing to populist pressure. Many in the EU hope that the D66’s approach could mark the rise of a new, pragmatic liberalism in Europe, one that acknowledges voters’ migration anxieties but resists the hardline solutions offered by the far right.
As Jetten summed up during his election campaign: “We are a country built on trade, ideas, and openness. Closing ourselves off is not who we are, but neither is losing control. We can be both just and firm.”
Further reading: Britain's approach to immigration || Immigration in Italy || Immigration in Ireland || Immigration in Germany || Immigration in Switzerlan || |Teaching refugees in Europe ||
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