The land of milk and honey

Proportionally, Belgium attracts many more asylum-seekers than the neighbouring countries: 2.5 times as many as France, 3.3 times as many as the United Kingdom and even six times as many as Germany. As such, Belgium can rightly be called Western Europe’s pre-eminent destination for asylum-seekers.

This situation is primarily the result of the fact that Belgium has never had a basic policy in this area and that over the years numerous favourable measures have continued to be implemented, such as the fast-track to citizenship law (Snel-Belgwet), a very broad interpretation of what qualifies as family reunification, and the repeated administrative regularisation of illegal immigrants.

As a result we have to live with uncontrolled immigration and this situation is inevitably leading to poverty, housing shortages, an increased burden on Social security Social security is currently managed at the Federal level in Belgium. The most important pillars of Belgian social security are: sickness and invalidity insurance (NIDHI), pensions, unemployment insurance and child allowances. In addition, occupational illness, occupational accidents and annual holidays are dealt with at this level. Some Flemish parties have been campaigning for years for (large parts of) social security to be transferred to the Regions and Communities. social security , and higher crime rates. The N-VA acknowledges that immigration is an integral aspect of modern society, but it wants to make certain that flows of people in this category stay under control. To make this possible there is a need for a comprehensive vision consisting of well-founded points of view and suggestions in areas such as nationality, family reunification, relief measures, asylum, regularisation on medical and humanitarian grounds, immigrant return polices, etc.
First and foremost, the N-VA wishes to regain control of the flow of immigrants. The procedure for requesting asylum must be made stricter and associated with thorough and systematic identification requirements for all candidates, and this also involves a coherent return policy for anyone whose application has been rejected. The N-VA wishes to limit and discourage illegal immigration to Belgium, and to make this possible the door must be closed on the many thousands of people who are currently misusing asylum procedures for purely economic reasons.

In the end, immigration needs to be managed so that it suits the needs of society and not the other way around. Once migration flows are under control, Belgium will be able to begin implementing a proactive immigration policy based on the opportunities available. Immigration in the professional and academic domains must lie at the heart of the policy, which to a large extent will be implemented within a European framework. Above all, immigration must contribute added value to society.

Finally, immigrants who ultimately come to live in Belgium must benefit from adequate welcome structures. According to the N-VA, this is only possible through the implementation of an active and open Civic integration Flanders has a policy for civic integration. This is a guided and targeted form of social integration for people of foreign origin. The intention is that the newcomers are provided with a valuable place in society by including them instead of excluding them. Civic integration, which includes language lessons and civic integration courses, was brought about by the participation of the N-VA in the Flemish Government since 2004 and the appointment of a Minister for Civic Integration. civic integration policy for which a good knowledge of Dutch and acceptance of our most fundamental values and standards is an obvious and critical requirement. The final part of such a civic integration policy would then consist of the immigrant obtaining citizenship.