More than 100,000 signatures for the children's pony petition by Tim Hofman

The BNN presenter citizen's initiative, Tim Hofman, was signed 100,000 times on Friday afternoon – a day after the launch. In principle, there is enough voice to include children's forgiveness, a topic of citizen's initiative, on the agenda of the House of Representatives. 40,000 signatures are needed for this.

The citizen's initiative was launched on Thursday as part of the YouTube program #BOOS . In an hour-long program, five children born in the Netherlands or who have been living there for more than five years but who have to leave the country are being followed. In total, there are about four hundred "rooted children" in the Netherlands in the same situation, they are between the coast and the ship. The director asks them to ask the children for forgiveness to stay. The program developer also wants the current regulation to be relaxed.

Prime Minister Rutte reacted on Friday during his weekly press conference on the pony petition for children. According to Rutte, the new forgiveness of children does not come. This would have a "suction effect" and provide "false hope" for children. Also in the coalition agreement, it had already been agreed that no new pardon granted to children would come nor extend it.

Criterion of Cooperation

After the 2012 elections, a majority of the House of Representatives voted in favor of the pardon, then a transitional arrangement expiring in 2013. This was followed by a definitive arrangement, much stricter. The criticisms focused on the contradiction of the "criterion of cooperation", which was not included in the transitional regime. This criterion means that children must have "actively participated in their departure" to be able to claim forgiveness.

IND figures show that under the current regulations, 1,120 of the 1,360 applications were rejected (from 2013 to mid-April). Under the three-month transitional regime, these figures were different: 1,630 out of 3,280 claims were rejected.

The PS says he will present a motion of grace next Wednesday. The party wants the criterion of cooperation to be widened and the four hundred entrenched children to stay. However, it is questionable whether the motion will have an effect. In the coalition agreement, it was agreed that forgiveness would not be extended.

It is also doubtful that the petition will end up on the agenda of the House. A citizens' initiative is conditional on the fact that the proposal is new and that the bill has not been debated in the House for two years. Hofman: "We did our research, which experts say is possible."