It is absolutely inexplicable that after a year and a half of discussion, there is still no good national plan to distribute the reception of asylum seekers across the Netherlands. This means that the pressure is still far too much on the North. This is what Mayor Renze Bergsma (Coevorden) stated during his New Year’s speech.
“As far as I’m concerned, this is a source of shame that we are apparently not managing to manage this properly.” Bergsma is therefore making a clear appeal to ‘The Hague’ to arrange this as quickly as possible. “Stop bickering.”
The call from the mayor of Coevorden comes on the day that the Groningen municipalities and the province of Groningen raised the alarm about the persistent reception problems in the overcrowded registration center in Ter Apel. “I want to let you know that I stand in solidarity with the Groningen municipalities,” said Bergsma. “A fair distribution of shelter must happen really quickly.”
Coevorden itself has already taken up this reception task generously, with currently 500 reception places in the asylum seeker center in Aalden. “We are at our maximum and we are currently doing twice as much as we should according to the distribution law. We recently expanded the number of shelter places in Aalden.”
According to him, his municipality cannot do much more. “That mainly has to do with support. That support is now there, but it is also very expensive, so you have to be careful with that. The asylum seekers’ center in Aalden has been there for years and for a long time without many problems. Last year we We have seen that nuisance was caused by ‘safelanders’, but that situation is now under control again, thanks to many conversations in the village. In any case, it indicates to us that we cannot do more. Support is important, we must be careful with that .”
In his speech, Bergsma not only appealed to The Hague to come up with a fair arrangement, but also to Dutch municipalities that currently offer too little shelter. “Show courage and take that step,” he said.