‘I am afraid I really may have to say goodbye’ said Mauro Manuel, the 18 year-old Angolan whose future in the Netherlands hangs in the balance. His fate could also have serious consequences for the cabinet. What the media say.

Congress
‘Is the cabinet’s partnership with Geert Wilders in danger?’, headlines the Volkskrant. The support shown by CDA dissidents Kathleen Ferrier and Ad Koppejan for Mauro Manuel during Thursday’s debate shows how ambivalent the Christian Democrats are about their cooperation with anti-immigration party PVV, according to the paper. The case will now have to be discussed in Saturday’s CDA party congress.
‘Everyone remembers last year’s CDA congress when a majority eventually decided to make the PVV a silent partner. This time things may work out differently. Polls say that a growing number of Christian Democrats no longer want to work with the PVV’, the paper writes.
‘Moreover, most are in favour of Mauro staying in the Netherlands. (..) If the congress calls for leniency for Mauro and if there is a parliamentary majority in his favour (which is unlikely because the SGP also supports Gerd Leers’ decision) the cabinet could be in big trouble.’
Political point scoring
The Nos points out the political point scored by the opposition by postponing the vote on their motions in support of Mauro until after the CDA party congress thus stirring up trouble between CDA and PVV.
It also thinks the Christian Democrats have themselves to blame: ‘The party just didn’t handle this well. When the Mauro question came up a few months ago the parliamentary CDA party supported his petition to stay. Either Leers and the party should have then have backed this up wholeheartedly no matter what the consequences or Leers should have said: look, two of my predecessors have decided Mauro can’t stay so please don’t support this. But Leers then started to dither.
It would go too far to say that Wilders is the immigration minister but it would be safe to say that without the PVV in the equation, Mauro would have been allowed to stay’, the broadcaster concludes.
Running out of options
Trouw concentrates on Mauro’s side of the story. If Leers does not use his discretionary powers he, and 75 others like him, will have to leave. Mauro himself is running out of options. Even a study visa would not help. It would mean Mauro going back to Angola and apply for a visa. His foster parents think he could be refused entry into the Netherlands, the paper reports.
Mauro himself does not hold out much hope: ‘I am afraid I may really have to say goodbye’.