The Dutch government faces a bill of up to €100 million in penalties for its failure to process asylum claims within a reasonable time following a European court judgment last week.

The Court of Justice (CJEU) in Luxembourg said the Netherlands must comply with EU rules that state asylum seekers are entitled to a decision within six months.

Member states are allowed to extend the deadline in exceptional circumstances, such as when a large number of applications are made in a short time. The previous Dutch cabinet legally changed the maximum wait to 15 months.

However, the court ruled last Thursday that exceptions were not possible where there was “a gradual increase in the number of asylum applications over a long period”. Latest figures show the number of refugees arriving fell by 50% in the first quarter of 2025.

The decision means the Netherlands could have to pay up to €7,500 in conditional fines to some 18,000 asylum seekers who have had to wait between nine and 15 months for their case to be concluded. The average waiting time is around 18 months.

The Council of State, which is the government’s official legal advisor on European law, had sought clarification from the CJEU after a Turkish asylum seeker challenged the extended period in the domestic courts.

Asylum minister Marjolein Faber said there was “no solution in the short term” to the backlog in cases. Faber has promised to abolish the conditional fines as part of her plans to bring in the “strictest asylum policy ever”, but she has made little headway and legal experts have warned her plans risk clashing with European law.

Asylum lawyer Michael Yap told the Telegraaf that the government needed to take steps to clear the waiting list. “The [immigration service] IND still basically processes cases in a few days. But it takes months for them to begin.”