Mark Rutte
Statement
Mark Rutte (1967) is the incumbent Prime Minister and has been the Liberal Party leader since 2006. Before acting as junior minister in two departments between 2002 and 2006, he was a human resources manager in the private sector.
Rutte has stated in a recent newspaper advertisement that those who “refuse to adapt, and criticise our values” should “behave normally, or go away”, adding that Dutch citizens had become "increasingly uncomfortable” with migrants who abuse the freedoms offered in the Netherlands, and "harass gays, or whistle at women in short skirts, or brand ordinary Dutch people racists”.
He calls for:
- Investment in innovation and education, facilitating “knowledge migrants”
- Criminalization of both illegal residence and assisting illegal residence
- Expansion of national security
- Significant investment in the military
- Stronger enforcement of immigrants’ duty towards civic integration
- Expanding care for refugees in their own region, banning asylum applications in Europe where people can come to the Netherlands only through resettlement programs
- Banning migration from safe countries and forcing such countries to take back their own citizens, which may be a requirement for benefiting from development assistance, trade relations and the signing of treaties
- Abolishing municipal shelter for rejected asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. Rejected asylum seekers must leave the Netherlands.
