Rabat – Yesterday the Dutch deputy minister of justice informed the lower house that diplomatic channels had said there was no one available from Morocco to speak to her about the repatriation of failed Moroccan asylum seekers.
“That is incorrect. (…) We have no idea where this information came from. Neither our Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rabat, nor us [the Moroccan embassy] have been approached by the Dutch government for a request to talk about this,” a spokesperson of the Moroccan embassy to the Netherlands told the Dutch news outlet RTL Nieuws.
Deputy Minister of Justice, Broekers-Knol, was unable to clarify the issue yesterday and referred it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The move drew criticism from other members of Dutch parliament.
A miscommunication
Following the weekly meeting of the council of ministers, Sigrid Kaag, minister of foreign trade and development cooperation stated, “it is out of the question that the Dutch government would not be welcomed by Morocco. It’s an agenda matter that has resulted in a misunderstanding of words,” reported by the Dutch news outlet NOS.
Kaag did underline, however, that the topic is sensitive: ”The deputy minister would like to discuss the matter in person, or at a different location. Right now it is a question of finding the right moment, with the right people.”
In his weekly press conference, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the misunderstanding has been resolved but did not elaborate further, stating that “a meeting will take place as soon as possible, but international diplomacy is a poor subject for press conferences.”
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