Limburg VVD members had already written an angry, concerned letter to the VVD faction in the House of Representatives weeks ago: did their own State Secretary, Eric van der Burg, really designate emergency places for the reception of refugees? Did they, as local representatives of the people, have nothing more to say about this? “Our congregations,” it said, “are cracking under the high influx.”
But when they sat at the table this Wednesday evening with Member of Parliament Ruben Brekelmans and deputy VVD chairman Onno Hoes, in a room of Brasserie Antje van de Statie in Weert, it was still fun. What prevailed, says Eefje Joosten, VVD party leader in Sittard-Geleen, was the ‘VVD family feeling’. “Positive and united. It was a good discussion based on equality.”
On news sites, the letter from Limburg was called, followed by almost the same letter from VVD members from North Holland, “riot” or even “rebellion” in Mark Rutte’s party. But in Limburg they knew: this will help the VVD in The Hague with the negotiations in the coalition. CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra was sent to the Netherlands because of the resistance in his supporters AD to undermine the government’s plans on nitrogen. The VVD members told D66, CDA and ChristenUnie that they did it as they should: indoors. Their supporters no longer accepted the asylum crisis, so they were ‘trapped’.
On the day that the VVD members met in Weert, a baby had died in the registration center in Ter Apel. Hundreds of asylum seekers again slept outside. In the cafe, the VVD members only talked about it among themselves. But not long. They were concerned with the growing resistance in villages and towns. The message, says Sebastiaan Vliegen, party leader in Voerendaal: “Stop the coercion, stop the robbery tactics from The Hague. If you bypass municipal councils and residents, the support base is subject to homeopathic dilution.”
The people of Limburg already thought they knew on Wednesday that the VVD was busy working in the coalition to ensure that fewer asylum seekers would come, especially by making family reunification more difficult. Brekelmans told them that ‘something’ was coming. They didn’t ask, they say.
/s3/static.nrc.nl/images/gn4/stripped/data89814110-73eec2.jpg)
Jordy Drieman (32), party leader of the VVD in the Brabant municipality of Cranendonck, was there as a listener. On Thursday, when a large group of reporters is in Ter Apel and MSF provides emergency aid there for the first time, he lets NRC see the asylum center near the village of Budel. A large location, on an old defense site, with space for 1,500 people – since 2014. Before the crisis they came from Ter Apel and stayed there temporarily, often just like in Ter Apel for registration and identification. Now they come from the emergency locations with buses.
Also read: For the time being, the national borders remain open
Defense shooting range
Together with the ‘environment manager’ of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), Bert SchLeesoltes, Drieman walks past the barracks. “Listen,” says Drieman. Shots are heard in the distance. “Next door is the defense shooting range. For real refugees, from a war zone, that is very difficult.” It is not dirty in the barracks, but it is old and dilapidated. It’s dark there. Bert Scholtes says that the kitchens are also in poor condition. “Inhumane”, they both think. “But we are going to fix it up,” says Scholtes. Drieman: “You’ve been saying that for eight years.”
He no longer needs it. The Municipality of Cranendonck wants the COA to keep to the agreement that the shelter will close after ten years: on July 1, 2024. According to Drieman, the first few years went well – Budel mainly housed families from Syria and Afghanistan. “Then came Albanians, Moldovans. And people from Morocco, Algeria, all safe countries. It is now full of people who have no business here.” According to him, there is theft in shops. People no longer feel safe on the street and at the station. And when he, as a councilor, proposes solutions for other problems in the municipality, he would always be told: “First let your party make sure that the asylum seekers leave here.”
Stop the coercion, stop the robbery tactics from The Hague
Sebastian Fly VVD Voerendaal
Drieman understood the unrest of the VVD members in Limburg about the coercion from The Hague. “But it is good for us if other municipalities participate in the reception. And I hope that people in my party will finally realize that we should not tackle the consequences, but the causes of the problem. The international treaties and our laws no longer fit with reality, with what is happening now.”
It takes time to change that, Drieman knows. And the fact that the COA manager continues to talk about refurbishing the shelter, to make it more ‘dignified’, and says that the municipality is getting two more boas – it doesn’t reassure him very much. The COA and almost certainly also State Secretary Van der Burg do not want to close the shelter in Budel in 2024 at all. “This is a strategic location,” says Bert Scholtes. “You have 1,500 people together here and also the entire registration street with the Aliens Police and IND. If you close this and disperse the people, you will get even bigger backlogs at the IND.”
Scholtes also says that lawyers can ‘look’ at the agreements with the municipality – whether the COA can avoid it. “But I’d rather not.” He continues to do his best to change the congregation’s mind. Camera surveillance has been installed, there may also be a shop on the site and asylum seekers who cause problems in the reception are placed in a separate barracks, behind a fence. “There is more supervision there, it is less luxurious.”
Less luxurious? “There it is,” says Jordy Drieman, “even worse.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of August 27, 2022