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Dutch far-right politician calls for stronger ties with Assad regime

The leader of the far-right Freedom Party in the Dutch parliament has called on the government to seek to strengthen diplomatic relations with the Bashar al-Assad regime in order to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to areas it considers "safe" in Syria, according to the website of the Dutch national broadcaster "NOS".


The newspaper quoted Geert Wilders in a statement to Nieuwsuur program that "regardless of the opinion about Assad - and certainly the situation is not ideal - this man will not disappear."


Wilders, who has led the right-wing of Freedom party, added that there is a growing movement in Europe from some countries that believe that we should cooperate with Assad. "We have to consider whether we should have contacts with him.


Italy reopened its embassy in Syria last July, as Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni led a coalition of several European countries, including Italy, Greece, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to pressure the European Union to re-evaluate its policy towards Syria. This coalition aims to enable the voluntary return of Syrian refugees to their country through cooperation with Assad.


The Dutch news website noted that last month, the parties that make up the ruling coalition in the Netherlands agreed as part of a deal on asylum policies that the government would speed up the study of the possibility of declaring some areas in Syria as “safe zones.” The coalition is awaiting a report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assessing the security situation there.


The Netherlands currently has no diplomatic relations with Syria. To be able to return refugees, the government would have to work directly with the Syrian regime.


During a parliamentary session on asylum, the ruling coalition partner, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), announced that it does not support the resumption of diplomatic relations with Assad.


“First we must determine whether there are actually safe zones,” said Caroline van der Plas, leader of the BBB party, indicating that she did not want to “jump to hasty conclusions.”


For its part, the NSC party has delegated the decision to Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp.


Assad has long been considered an international pariah because of the war in Syria, where he has been accused of using violence against his own people.


ٌReporting by Hassan Qaddour


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