Framing the arrival of migrants by populist and liberal political parties in the Netherlands and Flanders : the aftermath of the sexual assault on women in Cologne 2015

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Framing the arrival of migrants by populist and liberal

political parties in the Netherlands and Flanders:

The aftermath of the sexual assault on women in Cologne 2015

Name: Julian Mensies

Student ID: 11082321

Supervisors: Dr. J. Doomernik & Dr. A. van Heelsum

Date: 22 June 2018

Program: Master thesis Political Science – International Relations

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Abstract

This research paper shows how political parties organizations, in particular populist and liberal political parties, use framing to set the political agenda and gain policy entrepreneurship. The case of how populist and liberal political parties framed the arrival of migrants in the Netherlands and Flanders was chosen, after males with a foreign origin sexually assaulted women in Cologne on New Year’s Evening 2015. This research focussed on the victim-intruder frame and whether the large Moroccan community was named and blamed in the aftermath of Cologne. A content analysis was conducted to analyse the statements of populist and liberal politicians on Twitter and in Dutch and Flemish newspaper articles. To get a deeper understanding of how populist and liberal political parties frame, which frame they use and who the target of the framing is, a combination of discursive policy analysis and critical framing analysis has been executed. In line with the expectations, this study found that the intruder frame was mostly used by the populist political parties and the victim frame was often used by the liberal political parties. As expected, the populist political parties could be identified as the policy entrepreneurs because the field of immigration is one of the main political fields in which they operate. This study found that the populist had by far made more statements about Cologne than the liberal political parties. No substantial evidence was found to know whether populist and liberal political parties named and blamed the large Moroccan communities living in the Netherlands and Flanders more frequently.

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Preface

In front of you lies the master’s thesis ‘Framing the arrival of migrants by populist and liberal political parties in the Netherlands and Flanders: The aftermath of the sexual assault on women in Cologne 2015.’ In February 2018, at the start of the research project ‘Global Migration: The Politics of International Migration and Asylum’ it was a challenge to find a research project that was compatible with my interests. During the research project I realised that I was very interested in the concept of framing, which I became aware of during my employment as junior employee public affairs at an enterprises association in the Netherlands. Although the issues addressed during employment were very different than for the field of migration, I became very interested in this subject. In particular, I found it very interesting that there are so many ways to send a message to an audience and that you will always have to keep your goals in mind during the writing process. This is something I will always take with me in the future. In June 2018 I submitted my master’s thesis.

I would like to thank my supervisor Jeroen Doomernik from the University of Amsterdam for guiding me during the process of writing this thesis. He gave me new suggestions and insight for how to set up my research proposal and how to finish my master’s thesis. In addition, I would thank my friends and family for motivating me to continue with writing my thesis and for their support. Finally, I would like to thank one of my dear co-students and friends for giving me peer-feedback on my thesis.

I hope you enjoy reading the final product of my study.

Julian Mensies

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1. Introduction

1.1 Background

On the night of 31 December 2015 many women were assaulted in Cologne, a city in West Germany. In the weeks after the event 1054 criminal charges were reported (Welt 2016b). These criminal charges included being sexually assaulted, robbed, intimidated or separated from their friends at Cologne’s central train station (The Washington Post 2016). The victims alleged that many of the perpetrators had a North African or Arab origin and were between the ages of 15 to 35, although not much was at the beginning of January 2016 known about the perpetrators (Spiegel Online 2016b; Washington Post 2016). Later, in February 2016 the police stated that some men with different nationalities were arrested, including 23 Moroccans, 25 Algerians and some other nationalities (Welt 2016b). In the police report the officers stated that the situation was chaotic as they were hindered by a large group of men to help people who were calling for help (Spiegel Online 2016a). Also, many orders from police officers were ignored, fights broke out and arresting the offenders was not possible due to the lack of resources (ibid). A couple of days after the assault of women in Cologne, the much attention was given to it by international newspapers, news channels and news websites. When politicians read or hear about a certain issue like this, they will consider the costs and benefits of giving their attention to this event. When they do so, then politicians or political parties want to spread their ideas and positions on a certain issue, included in a statement, to the supporters of the political party and the media. It is only possible for a limited time to address a certain issue when these ‘windows’, also named as policy windows, are open (Kingdon 2003: 166). This research will focus on how populist and liberal politicians in two neighbouring countries, the Netherlands and Belgium, used this event to frame, set the agenda and gain policy entrepreneurship on the topic of the arriving immigrants.

1.2 Introduction to study

Political party organizations have the aim to implement policy on the grounds of their own ideas or ideology (Bale 2013: 150). This is only possible when certain policy windows open (Kingdon 2003: 166). When these policy windows are open, politicians try to be the policy entrepreneur and set the agenda by framing certain occurred events, such as the event in Cologne on New Year’s Evening 2015 (idem: 20 & 166). Framing has an important role in agenda setting, as the media and politicians shape and interpret information (Berbers et al. 2015: 799). Entman (1993: 52) introduced a widely cited definition of framing: ‘to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in

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such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation.’ The concept of framing can be useful to understand how citizens create a perception about political, economic and social issues (Chong & Druckman 2007; Slothuus & de Vreese 2010).

In this study the emphasis will be on the framing of the arrival of migrants in Flanders and the Netherlands by Flemish and Dutch liberal and populist political parties. Although the Netherlands welcomed more post-colonial migrants than Belgium, both countries have experienced similar circumstances in the field of migration (Super 2015: 419-420). From the 1960s they have both experienced similar cycles of labour migration and asylum migration (ibid). At the beginning of the 21st_{century the number of asylum applications dropped and years} later the numbers in both countries rose again (ibid). In the years to follow, both countries experienced bad economic circumstances, an increase of labour migration, including the free movements of workers within the EU (ibid). On a political level both countries have experienced an electoral success of the populist political parties at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. In the past, the debate about immigration in the Netherlands was mostly focussed on ‘non-western allochthons’, including immigrants from guest labour countries such as Morocco (Van der Haar 2013: 215). The populist parties are known for their anti-immigration position, while the liberal political parties are in favour of the incoming migrants and are concerned about their security and safety. Building on the theory of Van Gorp (2005) about victim and intruder frames, which are related to the episodic frame, it is interesting to see which frame was more frequently used by politicians and whether this differs for populist right-wing parties and liberal political parties. The difference between positions of the populist and liberals has not been researched before in the academic field of migration. This comparison of positions and used frames could provide insights in the debates on migration and in the broader political landscape in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The other reason why the Netherlands and Belgium were chosen for the analysis is the existence of a large Moroccan community in both countries (Statistics Netherlands 2018; OECD 2017). This study will analyse how frequently the Moroccan community was mentioned and blamed for event in Cologne, as persons with this nationality were mentioned in the newspapers as perpetrators.

Besides the fact that a large Moroccan community lives in the Netherlands and Flanders and men with this nationality have been mentioned in the newspapers, there are other reasons why these two countries were chosen. One of the reasons why the Netherlands and Belgium were chosen is that the position of the public towards immigrants is similar. On the questions

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published by the European Social Survey (2016) the civilians of Belgium and the Netherlands had similar scores: (1) Country’s cultural life is enriched by immigrants. (BE 61/100; NL 65/100), (2) Immigrants are good for country’s economy (BE 40,9/100; NL 46,9/100), (3) Immigrants make a country a worse or better place to live (BE 38,1/100; NL 46/100). Although Belgium scores a bit lower on these questions, the numbers are almost equal. These similarities are a good starting point to conduct this research.

This research will include a quantitative and a qualitative research design, also known as mixed methods. In the first part a content analysis was conducted to analyse the statements, made by populist and liberal political parties, in news articles and on Twitter between the 1st_of January 2016 and the 31st_{of January 2016. The Dutch newspapers, De Telegraaf (sensational),}

het Algemeen Dagblad (sensational), de Volkskrant (qualitative) and de NRC Handelsblad (qualitative) will be included in this research as these newspapers have the highest circulation

and distinction can be made between sensational and qualitative newspapers (Schaap & Pleijter, 2012). The sample of Flemish newspapers will include: Het Laatste Nieuws (sensational), Het

Nieuwsblad (sensational), De Morgen (qualitative) and De Standaard (qualitative) (Van Gorp

2005). To avoid that one part of the sample had to be translated from French to Dutch and linguistic and grammatical errors occurred, this study chose only to include Dutch-Flemish newspapers. This is also one of the practical reasons why the Netherlands and Belgium were chosen for the analysis.

Since Twitter as a media source is very new it is interesting to include the statements on Twitter in the analysis. Previous observations of other researchers showed that on Twitter frames were often politized in two versions: A far-right perspective, in which refugees were portrayed as rapists and terrorists, and a humanitarian perspective, in which refugees were in need or protection and safety (Siapera et al 2018: 17). These observations show that the debate is ongoing in the digital world. In the second part a mix of critical framing analysis and discursive policy analysis will help to get a deeper understanding of the position of the political parties and what the effects are of the used frames. This will be done by analysing articles on the website of the political party after the event on the 31st of December.

A deductive approach will be used to collect the frames. By using this approach, the frames are predetermined. The huge advantage of using a deductive approach is that it is possible to replicate this research and that it increases the transparency (Semetko & Valkenburg 2000: 94).

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1.3 Research questions

The main question that will be answered in this study is the following: How has the framing of the arrival of migrants by the populist and liberal politicians in Flanders and the Netherlands been evolving before and after the assault on women in Cologne on New Year’s Evening 2015? This research question can be divided into several other research questions:

1. Which frames were used for the arrival of migrants by members of parliament of the

liberal and the populist right parties in Flanders and the Netherlands before and after the attack on women in Cologne?

2. Do populist political parties use different frames than liberal political parties?

3. To what extent is the victim-intruder frame used by the politicians and did it focus on

the large Moroccan minority living in the Netherlands and Flanders?

1.4 Scientific and societal relevance

There are many ways how this research can be scientific and societal relevant. First, migration flows, asylum and integration are considered as a common concern for governments of the EU members states (Triandafyllidou 2014). The media and politicians can play a major role in increasing the public support for asylum policies. Framing plays an important role in the message of the media and politicians. Frames show how stereotypes and characterizations are created and how citizens of a country understand political, economic and social issues (Van Gorp 2005: 489; Chong & Druckman 2007; Slothuus & De Vreese 2010). Therefor it is meaningful to understand the concept of framing and how it contributes to the immigration debates in the Netherlands and Belgium. This research will focus on the populist and liberal political parties. These parties are often each opposite when it comes to issues on migration. It is interesting to see which of these parties set the agenda, how they set the agenda and who can be considered as policy entrepreneur. For other political parties this would provide insights in how political parties frame.

Second, one of the main questions that will be asked is which individuals or groups were named as the offenders and whether migrants were framed as victims or intruders in the aftermath (Van Gorp 2005). As Moroccans are part of the described ‘North African men’, thirty of them were arrested after the event in Cologne and a large Moroccan community lives in the Netherlands and Flanders, it is interesting to see whether Moroccans were named more frequently by politicians and how they were framed after this event. More than five years ago the debate about immigration in the Netherlands was mostly focussed on ‘non-western

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allochthons’, mostly immigrants from guest labour countries such as Morocco (Van der Haar 2013: 215). Because the media shapes the public opinion, it is worth analysing the appearance of the Moroccans in statements made by populists and liberals and whether this media attention became more negative (Semetko & Valkenburg 2000: 92; Lecheler & de Vreese 2012: 185). A new insight on an increasing anti sentiment towards the Moroccan community would help understand how minority groups deal with integration and acceptance of a larger majority.

Further, this research provides information of how immigration is perceived by different actors, in this case the politicians. At the same time, it compares to two political landscapes, Flanders and the Netherlands, to discuss how actors use the information to frame certain migration issues. By understanding the position of political parties, it is possible to know framing could play a role in shaping policies (Kangas et al. 2013). Inside an economic region, such as the European Union, the position or actions of a national government play a role in shaping the debate on an intra-national level (European Union 2018). Lastly, because the number of asylum applicants in Belgium, and Flanders, is lower than in the Netherlands and it would interesting to see the differences between the two countries (Eurostat 2017).

1.5 Thesis outline

The outline of this study is as follows. Chapter two will start with describing the theory on public policy making and agenda setting. The next paragraph aims to get a better understanding of the concept of framing and framing analysis. In the next part the different kind of frames are elaborated. Part three will focus on how and what frames populist and liberal political parties use. Following the effect of frames on minority groups. This chapter ends with a section on framing in different kind of newspapers.

Chapter three, the methodology, will sets out how this research was executed. First the research design will be discussed, followed by the sample and between what date the data was collected. Further, the procedures of conducting this research will be explained with the operationalization of the concepts. Lastly, the methodological weaknesses are discussed.

Chapter four will describe detailed information about the case. First the assault on women in Cologne in 2015 will be discussed. This will be followed by a brief summary of the characteristic of Flanders and the Netherlands.

The fifth chapter will show the results of this study. The framing of populist and liberal political parties before Cologne will first be discussed. The second section provides the results of the content analysis. This will show the frequencies of the used frames and other important findings. In the next section the results of the analysis of articles on the website of the political

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parties will be elaborated. By making use of a combination of discursive policy analysis and critical framing analysis these articles will deepen the understanding of the positions and used frames of liberal and populist political parties.

The last chapter will elaborate the overall conclusions. The first part will include the findings and whether the research question could be answered. Next, a reflection on the methods provides useful information about the quality of this research. Third, this chapter will go into whether the outcomes of this research are generalisable. This is followed by section on theoretical implications and the relevance for future research.

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2. Theoretical framework: Public policy making, agenda

setting and framing

This chapter will provide insights in theory of public policy making, agenda setting and framing to answer the research question and its sub questions of this research. The section starts off with a section on public policy making and agenda setting. The next section will explain the concept of framing. The third part will elaborate further on the different kind of existing frames. In the fourth section will the framing of populists and liberals be discussed. The fifth section will provide insights in the effects of framing and how it can affect minority groups. Section six will discuss the role of newspapers in framing. The last section of this chapter will summarize the drawn-up hypotheses.

2.1 Public policy making and agenda setting

Political party organizations have the aim to implement policy on the grounds of their own ideas or ideology (Bale 2013: 150). In the process of public policy making these politicians or political organizations determine why some items are accepted and others are ignored. Kingdon (2003) began in 1984 with describing the processes of public policy making. The author divided these processes in four phases: ‘(1) The setting of the agenda, (2) the specification of

alternatives from which a choice is to be made, (3) an authoritative choice among those specified alternatives, as in a legislative vote, or a presidential decision, and (4) the implementation of the decision’ (idem: 2-3). This study focusses on the first two phases of

public policy making as this study achieve to know why some politicians use different items than others and how they do this. To understand these two phases, it is necessary to look to the word ‘agenda’. This can be described as ‘the list of subjects or problems to which governmental

officials, and people outside the government closely associated with those officials, are paying attention at any given time’ (ibid). It is possible that this list of subjects and ideas addressed by

policy analysists, researchers, consultants, interest groups, but also from the mass media (idem: 16). These actors might want to set the agenda because of three kinds of processes: problem recognition, generation of policy proposals and political events (ibid). The recognition and occurrence of one or multiple events could present a problem that is pressing on a certain system. This crisis or event might create the emergence of more problems (ibid). The event in Cologne can be assigned to this type of process.

Some items do not just come to the attention of politicians. Indicators do often simply show or explain how big or small an issue is. Governmental actors, such as research institutes, and government institutions such as the police, but also non-governmental actors, for instance

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the mass media or humanitarian organizations, monitor these indicators (idem: 90). Indicators could be the number of reported assaults, filed police reports or the number of immigrants which arrived in the last months. These indicators are measured to be aware of the changes of the problem and to determine the magnitude of the issue (idem: 91). A change of the monitored indicator will sometimes be exaggerated in politics, as those who supports the political party believe the change is symbolic to a larger process (idem: 91-92).

At a certain point an opportunity presents itself to politicians, so they can try to spread their ideas with the goal to implement policy. The time windows to address the issue are only open for a limited time and might close after less attention is given to it (idem: 166). These windows are called policy windows. Those political parties who are willing to invest their resource to gain attention are called policy entrepreneurs, these are also described as: ‘people

who are willing to invest their resources in pushing their pet proposals or problems, are responsible not only for prompting important people to pay attention, but also for coupling solutions to problems and for coupling both problems and solutions to politics’ (idem: 20). If

these political parties are not able to take advantage of the opportunity they will need to wait until the next opportunity presents itself. The outcomes of the actions taken depend on a mix of elements, such as the current political mood and the acceptance of the public, and how these elements are coupled (idem: 166). It is not easy to be a policy entrepreneur. Kingdon (2014: 180-181) found that a successful entrepreneur needs to have some claim that people support this person. Most likely this person needs to be an expert, has the ability to speak for supporters of the political party or have an authoritative decision-making position, for instance a seat in the parliament. A persistent policy entrepreneur can then set the agenda.

Some items, which are addressed by political parties, may rise on the agenda, while others do not. Especially when these policy windows are unpredictable and unexpected. There is always a strong competition for items, issues or problems to gain attention. Some items are more pressing than others. A published news or research report and the installation of a new administration are ways to rise or drop items on the agenda (Kingdon 2003: 18). It is also possible that some items do not even end up on the agenda due to high financial costs, the opposition has more powerful interests or the lack of acceptance of the public (ibid). Another way to disappear from the agenda is that a solution has been found for the problem or even a failure to address and solve the problem is one of the reasons that a topic is deleted from the agenda (idem: 104).

Problem recognition is seen as an important part of agenda setting. We have seen that items rise and drop on the competitive subject list. At the same time the policy window is small

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to address certain issues. Only the entrepreneurs who are willingly to invest their resources in a particular issue might gain attention certain actors such as the mass media or the government administration. The next section will provide insights in framing, one of the many ways to set the agenda.

2.2 Conceptualization of framing

In the seventies frame analysis was introduced by the Canadian sociologist Goffman (1974). These days frame analysis has been introduced in many fields such as sociology, cognitive psychology, linguistics, discourse analysis, communication and media studies and policy studies (Wu et al. 2012: 844-845). Goffman (1974: 21) describes frames as ‘schemata of

interpretation’. Subsequently he argues that frames enable people to “locate, perceive, identify,

and label” the information around them, although this concept has been altered other scholars Almost two decades later, Entman (1993: 52) introduced a widely cited definition of frames:

‘to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation.’ It is for example possible

to identify a frame when visual images, metaphors, dramatic characters, stereotypes, etcetera are used (Van Gorp 2005: 486). The concept of framing can be useful to understand how citizens create a perception about political, economic and social issues (Chong & Druckman 2007; Slothuus & De Vreese 2010).

2.3 Frames

To use the concept of framing it is important to notice that different kind of frames exist. Frames can be divided into generic news frames and issue-specific news frames (De Vreese et al. 2001). The generic frame could exceed thematic, cultural or time limitation and the issue specific news frames emphasize on the occurrence of one event. All kind of frames such as the thematic frame, episodic frame, the conflict frame, the action frame reassurance frame, victim frame and intruder frame exist and are shown in figure 1 (De Vreese & Boomgaarden 2003: 363; Liu & Pennington-Gray 2015: 37).

Frame Purpose

Thematic frame Gives information about the larger historical context.

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Conflict frame Focusses on a conflict of opinions between certain individuals, groups, institutions or organizations.

Action frame Calls for a needed action for a certain reported issue

Reassurance frame Expresses the idea that public should not be worried.

Victim frame Migrants are described as innocent and

victims who have been fleeing from their country for reasons such as war, political instability or poor economic circumstances, et cetera.

Intruder frame Migrants are described as profiteers or criminals who enter a certain country, and this is being a threat to someone’s cultural ideas and economic situation.

Table 1: Frames

First, the thematic frame is part of the generic frame and focusses more on the larger historical social context. The episodic frame is part of the issue specific frame and emphasizes the problems of one event or for one person or group (Semetko & Valkenburg 2000: 95; Iyengar 1991). The conflict, action frame and the reassurance frame can be categorized under both frames, generic news frames and issue-specific news frames. The conflict frame focusses on a conflict of opinions between individuals, groups, institutions or organizations. This frame has the purpose to create media attention and an audience for the opinion (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000: 95; Price & Tewksbury, 1997). The action frame calls for a needed action for a certain reported issue. (Liu & Pennington-Gray 2015: 37). Lastly, the reassurance frame expresses the idea that the public should not be worried about the issue (ibid).

In this research special attention is given to the episodic frame. This frame includes the personal experience of a person, or a victim (Liu & Pennington-Gray 2015: 37). For example, research conducted in Belgium analysed the representation of asylum seekers in the news and categorised two frames, ‘asylum seekers are innocent’ and ‘asylum seekers are profiteers and criminals’ (Boomgaarden & De Vreese 2003). Van Gorp (2005) built on his previous research by creating two issue specific frames: The intruder frame and the victim frame. Asylum seekers,

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refugees or other immigrants can be described as innocent victims as they could have been fleeing from their country for reasons such as war, political instability or poor economic circumstances. Another reason is that migrants have a well-founded fear of persecution, such as the fear to be prosecuted because of having a certain religion, nationality, a certain group membership or race (idem: 389). Van Gorp states that ‘victimizing is a dramaturgic technique from the media to portray that the poor, elder, women and children should receive help’(ibid). Especially when this is caused by someone else, so they cannot be held responsible for their circumstances (ibid). The intruder frame is often used when an unknown person attempts to enter the country or region, and this is being seen as a threat to someone’s cultural ideas and economic situation (ibid). Sometimes are asylum seekers seen as ‘suspects or associates of human traffickers’ (ibid). By raising media attention for these intruders, a new sentiment can arise. A specific expected policy outcome of this is that the asylum seekers will be discouraged to seek asylum or when they do arrive, that they will be forced to return to their country of origin (ibid).

The way in which the framing of asylum seekers takes place in the field of migration is different when the global and European level is compared to the described national level above. In the global politics the frames are mostly concerned to the humanitarian aspect of asylum and the threats to national security (ibid). On a European level is asylum and illegal immigration connected to the protection of the national identity and the threat to the economic position of the EU members (ibid).

2.4 Framing of populists and liberals

To understand the framing of populist and liberal political parties we must deepen into the term ‘political party organization’. Political party organizations can be described as ‘organizations that, for the most, recruit candidates to contest elections in the hope that they can then participate in government, or at least push it in the direction of their own ideas – ideas that, often, reflect the socio-economic interest and/or moral values of those who support them’ (Bale 2013:150). The distinction between different political party organizations evolved from the 19th and 21st century. The liberal parties can be included in the ‘mainstream parties’ type of organization, while the populist political parties are added to the ‘anti-system’ or ‘anti-political establishment’ type (idem: 151).

Statements about migration, made by populist political parties can be very different than those of liberal political parties. In the last two decades populist political parties have gained more attention among the public and it is said that the media is partially responsible for it

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(Hameleers et al 2017: 2). Mudde (2004: 543) defined populism as: ‘An ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, ‘the pure people’ versus ‘the corrupt elite’, and which argues that politics should be an expression of the general will of the people’. Often is referred to the ordinary people versus the evil politicians or the groups who are responsible for the problems of ordinary people (Hameleers et al 2017: 3). Meret and Siim (2013: 78) describe that right-wing populist parties in Western Europe have a strong anti-immigrant profile. More specifically, these parties have an emphasis on national values, institutions and historical traditions. The members of these populist parties argue that non-Europeans and Muslims are a threat to the social cohesion and the national identity (ibid). Some populist parties, such as the Belgian party Flemish Block and the Dutch parties List Pim Fortuyn (LPF) and the Party for Freedom (PVV) achieved electoral successful in the past by addressing anti-immigration positions (Akkerman 2005 :340). Electoral voters of the LPF stated that their highest priority was fighting crime and tightening control on the admission of asylum seekers (idem: 340). In the last decade it is common that political parties make statements about women rights and the position of women in society. In the field of migration, most of the statements about these rights focussed on women who were married to or living with a man with a foreign background. Populist parties have been shifting attention to the gender area, such as family violence, forced marriages and genital mutilation, to strengthen their position in the immigration debate (Meret & Siim 2013: 84). Also issues on wearing a veil/headscarf and honour killings were addressed (idem: 90). The DFP in Denmark had been calling men as people who ‘not yet understood that the Middle Ages ended a long time ago and that the premise for freedom and progress is women’s equality’ (idem: 91). This comparison with historic times is something that populist, such as the Front National, Vlaams Belang and the PVV, often do. In an analysis of speeches historic frames were used to help people understand that in the past the nation and the people were fantastic, opponents are creating bad living circumstances in the society and that the nation should take on these problems by voting on them (Mols & Jetten 2014: 80-83).

The current main populist party in the Netherland is the PVV. This party is described as a right-wing radical populist party, which is anti-immigration and critical of the current establishment (Van Gent et al 2014). In their one-page election program they state that the following anti-immigration issues: 1) Zero asylum seekers and no immigration from Islamic countries. 2) Revoke all already issued residence permits for asylum. Close all the asylum centres. 3) No Islamic headscarves are allowed while having a public job. 4) Prohibition on Islamic expressions which conflict with the public order. 5) Preventive arrest for radical

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Muslims. 6) Criminals with a double nationality should be denaturalized and send out. 7) People who joined the terrorist organization Islamic State are not allowed to return to the Netherlands. 8) All mosques and Islamic schools should close, and the Quran should be banned (PVV 2017).

The main far-right populist party in Belgium is the Vlaams Belang. This party warns for the incoming estrangers and for the consequences of immigration for housing, mobility and education (Vlaams Belang 2018). According to VB the Flemish people should feel safe at their homes and therefor the party argues for a strict immigration policy. The rules on family reunion should be changed and made more restrictive. Illegals, criminal estrangers and denied asylum seekers should be send back to their country of origin. According to the party everyone who does not adapt to the Flemish society and its norms, should return to their country of origin.

The electoral programs of the PVV and the VB include many statements with a call for action. Therefor the next hypothesis will be: H1: The populist will use more frequently the call

for action frame than the reassurance and the conflict frame.

Quite the opposite of the populist political parties are the liberal political parties. In the Netherlands the Democrats 66 (D66) is seen as a liberal political party which is seen as cosmopolitan, in favour of human rights positions and further Europeanization (Berkhout et al 2015: 104). Liberal political parties are known for promoting the rights of the individual, including the legal, property, religious and political rights of a person (Bale 2013: 163). This party could be described as the opposite of the populist far right anti-immigration party PVV. The D66 wants a ‘charitable and open position on asylum’ (Statham & Koopmans 2009: 457). The electoral program shows that D66 is in favour of safety for refugees and the party strives to help refugees to work (D66 2018). Further Europeanization, by completing the European Asylum system, is necessary to achieve equal chances for refugees and an equal and fair distribution of refugees among the EU-member states (ibid). The equivalent in Flanders is the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD). This party is in favour of ‘a humane and clear reception in accordance with the international rules’ (Open VLD 2018). Liberals have been using the multicultural frames far more often than any other group in the political landscape (Helbling 2014: 24). These frames are positive towards exchange and peaceful coexistence of religious and cultural groups within a society (ibid). Liberals are also considered to be in favour of cultural openness (ibid). Research conducted between 1998 and 2001 showed that the Dutch left-leaning parties GroenLinks (GL), Socialistische Partij (SP), D66 and PvdA, have claimed more than half of the statements on migration topics, in a favourable position to migrants (Berkhout et al 2015:109).

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Due to the fact liberals are very in favour of peaceful coexistence of groups and a charitable asylum system, it is expected that after the event in Cologne the liberals portrayed migrants as victims in their journey to find a peaceful country to live. Therefor the next hypothesis is: H2: The victim frame is more frequently used by liberals than the populists after

the event in Cologne.

Due to the hostile characters of right-wing populists towards immigrants I expect the following hypothesis: H3: The intruder frame is more frequently used by populist than the

liberals after the event in Cologne.

It can also be expected that the populist political parties can be identified as the immigration is one of the main themes of the populist parties electoral program. Therefor the following hypothesis is formulated: H4: The populist political parties will more likely be

identified as policy entrepreneurs than the liberal political parties.

2.5 Effects of frames on minority groups

As framing can be useful in understanding how citizens create a perception about political, economic and social issues, it is also useful to learn about its effects. It is believed that that framing affects individual persons by altering the perceived importance of an issue (Nelson et al. 1997). Other scholars suggested that a trade-off exist between different considerations or beliefs when individuals express their opinion (De Vreese et al. 2011: 182) Issues are then, for example, framed as they are in favour of the issue or opponent of the issue. One or two frames are seen as important, while others are ignored and are considered as less important (ibid). Frames can offer information via a direct route or an indirect route (Slothuus 2008; De Vreese et al. 2011: 182-183). Via the direct route frames can offer a new perception to an individual. When the information or opinion is presented to the individual, the person might consider this information as new and relevant. This information could be something that individual was not beware of before. After the new frame is presented, the existing frames do not always disappear. The frames can then change via the indirect route from mutually exclusive to complementary or the new frame (De Vreese et al. 2011: 182). In other words, the already existing frames could support the existence of the new frame. What also should be considered is that frames do not have the same impact. Some frames include more information or considerations than others. De Vreese and Boomgaarden (2003) observed that frames are indicative of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ they can implicitly emphasize positive or negative aspects of an issue. The valence of news frames is important to consider because it can influence attitudes (Schuck & de Vreese 2006) and responses (Shah et al. 2004).

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According to a study of Fumagalli (2007: 570) we cannot belief frames are static or fixed. Frames can compete with each other, can vary and can change. A frame can be used to mobilise or demobilize a whole community and therefor it is possible a minority group is the target of the framing (idem: 584-585). The more negative the news articles are about a minority, the more problematic image they get (Boomgaarden & Vliegenthart 2009). These news representations show how we see certain minority groups in public debates (Kroon et al. 2016: 376). According to Phalet and Gijsberts Moroccan Muslims are distrusted, devalued in the Dutch society and the prime target of anti-Islam feelings (Phalet et al. 2010: 762). Roggebrand and van der Haar (2017) state that from the 1990s boys and young men with a Moroccan background have been portrayed as a social and a security threat and that they represent the failure of the multicultural society. A different study found that young Dutch-Moroccan men were often portrayed in the media as youngsters who misbehave and terrorize urban neighbourhoods (Koning 2014). The disturbances caused by Moroccans youngsters are partly caused by a lack of integration and a low socio-economic position of Moroccans (Roggebrand & van der Haar 2017: 2). The victims of the assault in Cologne stated that many of the perpetrators had a North African or Arab origin (The Washington Post 2016). Later, in February 2016, the police stated that some men with different nationalities were arrested, including 23 Moroccans, 25 Algerians and some other nationalities (Die Welt 2016b). Therefor I expect that the Moroccan communities in the Netherlands will be more negatively in the news after the event in Cologne than before the event. The hypothesis is:

H5: The Moroccan community is being portrayed more frequently and more negative in statements of liberal and populist politicians after the event in Cologne than before.

2.6 Framing in newspapers

In the last two decades many researchers have dedicated themselves to the study of sensational and qualitative newspapers (Grabe et al. 2003; Tai & Chang 2002, Djupsund & Carlson 1998). Researchers showed in European countries, Finland, The United Kingdom and Sweden, that the news coverage in newspapers have become more sensationalist (Djupsund & Carlson 1998; Uribe & Gunter 2004). Based on the work of two studies, the Dutch newspapers NRC

Handelsblad and De Volkskrant were described as qualitative papers and De Telegraaf and Het Algemeen Dagblad were described as sensationalist newspapers (Bakker & Scholten 2006;

Schaap & Pleijter 2012). British tabloids, also seen as sensationalist newspapers, are believed to contribute to hostility toward migrants (Crawley 2005; Innes 2010, Blinder & Allen 2016).

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Because British sensationalist newspapers are believed to be contributing to hostility towards migrants, we would expect that they would portray the migrants as intruders and offenders. This is in line with the position of the populist political parties on migration topics. However, Van Gorp (2005) stated in 2005 that sensationalist newspapers use more frequently the victim frame than the intruder frame. These contrasting observations make it difficult to set up a hypothesis. Since Van Gorp’s research was conducted more than a decade ago, we will follow the British research. Therefor the hypothesis is:

H6: Intruder frames are more frequently identified in sensationalist newspapers than in qualitative newspapers.

2.7 Hypotheses

In this study the following hypotheses were determined based on the theoretical section. H1: The populist will use more frequently the call for action frame than the reassurance and

the conflict frame.

H2: The victim frame is more frequently used by liberals than the populists after the event in Cologne.

H3: The populist political parties will more likely be identified as policy entrepreneurs than the liberal political parties.

H4: The intruder frame is more frequently used by populist than by liberals after the event in Cologne.

H5: The Moroccan community is being portrayed more frequently and more negative in statements of liberal and populist politicians after the event in Cologne than before. H6: Intruder frames are more frequently identified in sensationalist newspapers than in

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3. Methodological approach

To research the framing of the Dutch and Flemish liberal and populist political parties after the assault in Cologne, this mixed methods research will be divided in two parts: a quantitative and a qualitative part. The statements in news articles and on Twitter will be analysed by using a content analysis. The main advantage of conducting a content analysis is that it is a very transparent method, as the coding scheme and sampling procedures can be set up conveniently (Bryman 2012: 304). Another advantage is dedicated to the flexibility of the method, as it can be applied to myriad kinds of textual information and the coding scheme can be adjusted during the research process (idem: 304-305). Descriptive statistics will be used to show who used what frame for spreading their message. These descriptive statistics will also provide insight at what date the publication of the document was. A mix of discursive policy analysis from Bacchi (2009) and critical framing analysis from Lombardo and Verloo (2007) will deepen the understanding of the position of populist and liberals. It will focus on the effects of their calls for action. In both parts the statements of the liberal (D66 and Open VLD) and the populist political parties (PVV and VB) will be included.

To study the content of news articles there are two approaches to analyse the frames, the deductive and the inductive approach (Semetko & Valkenburg 2000: 94). With the inductive approach an open view is used to find and reveal all kind of possible frames. Some loose definitions of the frames might already exist. By using this method many possible ways of framing can be detected. The disadvantage of this approach is that it is a labour-intensive method. This approach is also perceived as a method which is difficult to replicate (ibid). With a deductive approach the frames are already predefined (idem: 95). To use this approach, you will need to have a clear idea of the different kind of frames that are likely to be found in the news. With the predefined frames it is easy to replicate the study and to analyse large samples. This huge disadvantage of this approach is that some frames might be overlooked because they are not in the framework. In this study a deductive approach is used. The frames are predetermined and included in Appendix A. The main advantages of using a coding scheme in combination with only one researcher is that it cannot be interpreted differently. When multiple researchers are using the coding scheme to analyse data, one of the researchers can interpret the scheme differently than another researcher (Bryman 2012: 169 & 248).

3.1 Sample.

The units of this sample will include samples of Belgian and Dutch national newspapers, twitter statements and press releases of politicians and political parties. The Dutch newspapers, De

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Telegraaf (circulation: 400,000), het Algemeen Dagblad (350,000), de Volkskrant (220,000)

and de NRC Handelsblad (140,000) will be included in this research, as these newspapers have the highest circulation (Volkskrant, 2016). Moreover, a distinction can be made between popular newspapers, such as het Algemeen Dagblad and de Telegraaf, and the qualitative newspapers De Volkskrant and de NRC (Schaap & Pleijter 2012). The Dutch newspapers were retrieved from LexisNexis, an online databank for newspapers.

The sample of Flemish newspapers included the popular newspapers Het Laatste

Nieuws (circulation: 309,000), Het Nieuwsblad (264,000) and the qualitative newspapers De Morgen (52,000) and De Standaard (98,000) (CIM 2018). To avoid that one part of the sample

had to be translated from French to Dutch and linguistic and grammatical errors occurred, this study chose only to include Dutch-Flemish newspapers. Because not many Flemish newspapers are available on LexisNexis, the GoPress databank was used to search for Flemish articles.

The twitter statements of members of parliament of the liberals (D66 and Open VLD) and the populists (PVV and VB) will be analysed. Twitter, as a mean to analyse is fairly new to the academic studies, as it only has been analysed for a decade. Politicians, parties, journalists and a part of the public have been using twitter to interact, to search for public shared or contrasting opinions (Jungherr 2016: 72). Uploading statements on Twitter is a form of digital storytelling, which people frequently use to tell and share personal stories, narratives or opinions (Siapera et al. 2018: 2). Scholars found that young politicians are more likely to use Twitter and to share those stories than old people and they also found that in general political parties and candidates from the opposition are more likely to use the internet or Twitter than governing parties (Vergeer et al 2011; Vergeer & Hermans 2013; Jungherr 2016). A study conducted in the United States showed its more likely that politicians, who were using Twitter, live in an urban district or state than a rural area (Straus et al 2013: 62). Although that the studies have been conducted in the Netherlands or the US and some articles are seven years old, it is good to keep the previous mentioned limitations of analysing Twitter in mind.

It is important to know about that impact of Twitter. Politicians send tweets every day, some even send tweets more frequently. These tweets do not only influence their own followers. When a follower of the politician comments, likes or retweets a post of this politicians, then it is possible that all this person’s followers see this post. Imagine that politician ‘A’ has a thousand followers who read the post and hundred followers, with each 200 followers, retweet this post. When we do the calculations for this example then we expect that around the potential Twitter reach is around 21,000 (1000 + 100*200) people (Simply Measured 2018). The impact of spreading a message on Twitter can be enormous, especially when the traditional

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mass media use the Tweet in one of their newspapers. However, it should be kept in mind that the potential twitter reach can differ greatly per send tweet.

3.2 Period of study

The study will be analysing the period between the 30st_{of November 2015 and 31}st_{of January} 2016. The 30st of November is the first day of analysis due to the fact that the assaults started on month after this day. Till the 31st of January 2016 the documents will be analysed to explain whether the event in Cologne transformed the framing on migrants.

3.3 Procedure

In this research I will be including all statements of liberal and populist political parties in news articles. Based on the theory and the taken samples there are several ways how the coding will take place. The quantitative part, where a content analysis was conducted, used the guidelines for analysing texts, included in Appendix A. The second part, a mix of critical framing analysis and discursive policy analysis will make use of the questions in Appendix B.

On the online databank for newspapers, LexisNexis and GoPress, I entered the search words: Keulen, migranten, immigranten, vluchtelingen or asielzoekers, Marokkaan,

Marokkanen. These words were then combined with D66, Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), Vlaams Belang (VB) and Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (Open VLD). The

abbreviations of the political parties were also included in the search words. Of all the collected articles a list was made. This action was followed by the deleting all the articles which had two or more copies in the list. After the creation of the list I searched for statements from the members of the political party concerning the topic of migration. With the “Codebook: Guidelines for coding Tweets and articles in newspapers”, included in appendix A, I started to analyse the statements of populists and liberals in Belgium and the Netherlands. The data collection was added in a SPSS file, so it was possible to analyse the frequencies.

The statements on Twitter were collected on the Twitter account of the political parties and the personal accounts of its members of parliament. All the twitter accounts, of those who were a member of parliament in the Netherlands or in Flanders, from the D66 (12), PVV (13), VB (6) and Open VLD (19) were searched for relevant data. Most of these Twitter accounts were publicly accessible. In the search bar on Twitter it is possible to limit the search with entering a specific year, month and day. This makes it convenient to search for the needed data. All the tweets were put together in a list. The document “Codebook: Guidelines for coding Tweets and articles in newspapers”, included in appendix A, was used to analyse the statements

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of liberal and populist political parties in Belgium and the Netherlands. The data was added to the already existing SPSS file, as described in the paragraph above. To know whether politicians deleted their tweets, the names of the politicians were searched on the website Politwoops. This website records all the deleted tweets of politicians. I found that of all political parties, only two members of the PVV deleted both one tweet between the 1st of January 2016 and the 31st of January 2016. These statements were not included in the research as it is unknown at what date these tweets were deleted. Politwoops (2018) states that ‘a tweet is deleted mostly after less than an hour.’ So, it is likely that not everyone has seen this post and the maximum potential Twitter reach was not reached.

The second part of this research included the combination of critical framing analysis and discursive policy analysis to analyse texts on the website of the political party. On the website of every political party (D66, PVV, OpenVLD, VB) I searched for articles made between the 1st of January 2016 and the 31st of January 2016. I decided to only analyse one of the texts which represented the other texts and give a deeper understanding of the position of populists and liberals. With the “Guidelines for analysing large articles on the websites of the political parties”, included in appendix B, I started to analyse the statements of populists and liberals in Belgium and the Netherlands to get a deeper understanding of their position and their way of framing.

3.4 Operationalization

An important part of doing research is knowing how to measure the concepts. In theoretical section the different frames were explained. These were schematically portrayed in figure 1.

Frame Purpose

Thematic frame Gives information about the larger historical context.

Conflict frame Focusses on a conflict of opinions between certain individuals, groups, institutions or organizations.

Action frame Calls for a needed action for a certain reported issue

Reassurance frame Expresses the idea that public should not be worried.

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Victim frame Migrants are described as innocent and

victims who have been fleeing from their country for reasons such as war, political instability or poor economic circumstances, et cetera.

Intruder frame Migrants are described as profiteers or criminals who enter a certain country, and this is being a threat to someone’s cultural ideas and economic situation.

Table I: Frames

These definitions were used by determining the frames per statement of the populist and liberal politicians. Besides determining the frames, this study also included whether the migrant was named as a refugee, an asylum seeker, a foreigner, etcetera and the nationality of the migrant. The other important information that was collected included: the source, the date, the mentioned political party and. overarching theme of the statement. The coding schedule is included in appendix A. Also, the information as word count and Twitter statistics (likes, retweets and comments) were measured.

3.5 Methodological weakness

Although the combination of a quantitative and qualitative approach offers some advantages, this way of researching comes with certain disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that the collection of the statements made by politician is done in newspapers. It is questionable whether the journalist writes the statement exactly down as the politician stated in reality. Due to the fact that a third person is between the spoken statement and the publication in the newspaper article, it influences the reliability.

Subjectivity is an often-heard critique of qualitative research (Bryman 2012: 405). The second part of this study includes a discursive policy and critical framing analysis, in which texts are analysed. These texts could be analysed and interpreted differently per researcher. Fortunately, the usage of mixed methods, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, generates a higher reliability of this research.

Another disadvantage is the external validity of this research. External validity focusses on the generalizability of the research, in other terms, whether the results are applicable to other countries or other situations (Bryman 2012: 47). Due to the fact this study is focussed on one

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case it is not easy to generalize this to the larger debate or too multiple countries. However, a collection of several case studies could increase the generalizability.

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4. Case description:

To understand the aftermath of Cologne it is necessary to know what occurred in Cologne on New Year’s evening 2015 and how the news developed after the assault on women. This will be explained in section 4.1. In section 4.2 the characteristics, such as the numbers of arriving and living migrants in 2015 and the public opinion towards migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands will be explained.

4.1 Cologne 2015: The assault on women

On the night of 31 December 2015, around 1054 criminal charges were reported after the assault on women in Cologne (Welt 2016b). These criminal charges included begin robbed, intimidated or separated from their friends at Cologne’s central train station (The Washington Post 2016). The numbers of the women who were sexually assaulted differ. While the Washing Post (2016b) reported that around 650 women had been sexually assaulted, the Welt (2016) spoke of 454 cases. The victims alleged that many of the perpetrators had a North African or Arab origin between the ages of 15 to 35, although not much is known about the perpetrators (ibid). Later, in February 2016 the police stated that some men with different nationalities were arrested, including 23 Moroccans, 25 Algerians and some other nationalities (Welt 2016b). The men were described as drunk and aggressive (The Guardian 2016). After the calls came in, the police deployed 70 federal officers and 143 local police officers to the city’s main railway station or the area around the railway station (Independent 2016b). In the police report the officers stated that the situation was chaotic as they were hindered to help people who were calling for help (Spiegel Online 2016a). Also, many orders from police officers were ignored, fights broke out and arresting the offenders was not possible due to the lack of resources (ibid). Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, expressed her outraged and called for immediate action to punish the perpetrators without regard to their origin or background (The Guardian 2016). As Cologne is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Germany and it welcomed more than 10,000 refugees in 2015, (New York Times 2016) the right-wing anti-immigration movement Pegida held protests against the arrival of more migrants in Germany (Independent 2016a). It was also reported that after the assault on New Year’s Eve the attitude of Germans to welcome refugees has dropped (YouGov 2016). In January 2016, the survey of YouGov (2016) showed that 62 percent of the Germans thought the number of asylum seekers in the country was too high, compared to 53 percent in November 2015. In November 2016 the policed reported that around 1616 crimes in 1205 criminal charges were registered, including 509 sexual motivated crimes and 22 rapes (Welt 2016a). In 369 cases no suspects were identified. In July 2016, 7

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months after the assault, it was reported that only 2 men were convicted for sexual assault due to the lack of available evidence (Süddeutsche Zeitung 2016). In November only 6 perpetrators had been sentenced (ibid).

4.2 A brief summary of characteristics: Belgium and the Netherlands

Belgium has a current population of 11,3 million people (Statbel 2018). Almost 10 million people have Belgium nationality. The group of 1,3 million people includes many foreigners, such as people with Dutch, Italian, French or Moroccan passports (Nieuwsblad 2015; Statbel 2018). Around 17% of the foreign-born population came from Morocco (OECD 2017). In proportion to the general Belgian population is the number of immigrants in cities the highest in Brussel (Vangoidsenhoven & Pilet 2015: 54). In 2016, Belgium welcomed around 14,250 asylum applicants, around 0,126% percent of the total population (Eurostat 2017). The Public Tableau (2015) reported that the public attitude towards immigrants, with 30 percent positive towards immigrants, was lower than most of Germany’s neighbours. Around 67 percent of the Belgium population has a negative attitude towards immigrants.

More than 6,5 million people are living in the Flemish region (Statistics Flanders 2017). In 2014, more than 1.22 million people with a foreign background lived in this area (Statistics Flanders 2018). The statistical institute of Flanders reported in 2013 that around 181.575 people of a population of almost 1,2 million people had a North African background (ibid). Another research of the Statistics Flanders reported that in 2015 around 27,950 Moroccan aliens were living the Flanders region (ibid). The SCV survey provides the data on the public attitude towards migrants for Flanders (ibid). Around 13 percent of the population in Flanders think that guest workers cannot be trusted, while 53 percent think they can. Over 32 percent of the population in Flanders think that migrants come to Belgium to receive social and economic rights. Also, 37 percent of the population beliefs migrants are a threat for the Belgium culture and norms; the same percentage thinks migrants are not a threat. Lastly, around 51 percent of the population has a positive attitude towards the existence of different cultures due to the fact it is an asset for the society (ibid).

In 2017 around 17,1 million people were living in the Netherlands (Statistics Netherlands 2018). Around 77 percent of the population is Dutch and around 12,7 percent has a non-western background. It was reported in 2017 that 391,088 Moroccans, 2,2 percent of the population, were living in the country (ibid). While Belgium welcomed around 14,250 immigrants in 2016, the Netherlands welcomed 19,285 immigrants, 0,113 percent of the total population (Eurostat 2017). The Public Tableau (2015) reported that the public attitude towards

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immigrants was one of the highest among Germany’s neighbours with 46% of the population which stands positive towards immigrants and 50 percent stands negative towards immigrants.

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5. Results

Central to this study is the framing of migrants by populist and liberal political parties in Flanders and the Netherlands after the assault on women in Cologne on new year’s evening 2015. The emphasis of this study focussed in particular on the victim and intruder frame. Whether or not the large Moroccan communities living in Flanders and the Netherlands were named and blamed was also included in this research. To understand whether this event changed the framing of populist and liberal political parties it important to know how the political parties published in the month before the Cologne. Therefor I will first describe the month before Cologne. Second, a content analysis is conducted to analyse the statements of populists and liberals on Twitter and in newspapers. The list of newspaper articles which were used to answer the research question are included in appendix C. The list with Tweets are included in appendix D. Third, a combination of critical framing and discursive policy analysis will provide insights in the position of liberals and populist.

5.1 Pre-Cologne

In the month before Cologne, the party leader Geert Wilders of the PVV spoke about the incoming migrants, which he labelled as ‘fortune seekers’ (gelukzoekers) (Wilders 2015). By the end of December Wilders send questions to the prime minister about the statements of the labour party, one of the coalition parties, that the Netherlands could handle the entry of 200,000 asylum seekers in the Netherlands (PVV 2015a). Although Wilders was mainly focussing on the incoming migrants, he publicly criticized the Greek minister of Migration for letting in Moroccans, who were given the refugee status (Wilders 2016). Besides criticizing the minister, the party also published some Eurosceptic statements about the migration policy (PVV 2015b).

Similar as the PVV, the populist party in Belgium, the VB, is criticizing the entry of asylum seekers. The main reason for the critique is that large sums of money are spend on asylum seekers and the asylum system (Vlaams Belang 2015a). These budget issues could not be identified in the statements of the PVV in December. However, in June 2015 Wilders published that an asylum seeker costs 36,000 euros per year and that the government must stop this madness (PVV 2015c). According to the VB the money that went to asylum seekers could also be invested in houses for senior people (Vlaams Belang 2015b). The party also sees the ‘asylum tsunami’ as the cause of the increasing numbers of Roma-beggars on the streets of Brussel (Vlaams Belang 2015c).

The liberal party D66 did not post any press releases on their website in December 2015 which concerned migration topics. However, on 31 October 2015, the party requested the

Framing the arrival of migrants by populist and liberal political parties in the Netherlands and Flanders : the aftermath of the sexual assault on women in Cologne 2015