Despite many requests, the municipality of Tubbergen has not yet done anything about asylum reception. The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) has been talking with the municipality for months about the hotel in Albergen, which was suitable for receiving refugees. Unfortunately, when the municipality kept saying no, it was necessary to take a coercive measure.
That is what State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) says about the news that the municipality of Overijssel is the first in the Netherlands to be forced to accept asylum reception in the village of Albergen. According to Van der Burg, the municipality cannot be so surprised, since talks have been going on for months. The mayor of Tubbergen was informed about the measure an hour before the House of Representatives, according to Van der Burg.
“More space is needed for refugees throughout the Netherlands. If that is not possible on a voluntary basis, then I can do two things: completely hide the reception center in Ter Apel or intervene. I prefer not to do the latter, but it has been done. a number of municipalities delivered too little on a voluntary basis,” according to the minister. He had expected that there was a lot of resistance in Tubbergen, but that is no reason to reverse his decision.
Van der Burg rejects the criticism that increasingly small rural municipalities outside the Randstad are being affected by his policy. He points to large cities such as Utrecht, Amsterdam and Rotterdam that receive many refugees. And on smaller municipalities such as Gilze en Rijen and Budel (municipality of Cranendonck), which have or have had large asylum seekers’ centers.