Albert Verlinde was tackled hard at the table at Op1 last night by host Jort Kelder. “How many refugees do you actually take in in your beautiful villa village?!”
In addition to his work as a television star, Albert Verlinde is also active in the city council of Vught, on behalf of the VVD. Last night in Op1 he pointed an angry finger at municipalities that do not do enough to receive refugees. Vught itself now houses 110 refugees from Ukraine, according to Albert. “In a congregation of 30,000.”
Albert critical
Albert states that other municipalities must also take responsibility. “I think it is very easy to get over the fact that the municipalities are not doing anything. If we all think it’s so bad and you spread those people across the Netherlands, then it’s easy enough for a municipality to say: ‘We are looking for a place where that is possible.’”
It’s disgusting that that doesn’t happen, says Albert. “Isn’t that bad? We can always point to the cabinet and say: ‘Why isn’t the VVD doing this and not doing that?’ Then I think: the municipality can also say… And hardly anyone has done that, right? How many municipalities do we have in the Netherlands? 200 or 300? And nobody does anything! Do you understand?”
villa village
If all municipalities take in 100 or 150 refugees, you will be there, says Albert. Jort Kelder then asks him critically: “But you say that you do a lot of Ukrainians in Vught, but that’s a different category, isn’t it, if you can say it that way. That is different from the refugees we are talking about now.”
Albert: “Yes, I know.”
Jort, pointing to the refugees who sleep in the tent camp of Ter Apel: “So how many of that category do you include in the beautiful villa village?”
Albert: “Well, beautiful villa village… It is also an agricultural village and there are also people who are not well off in the village, of course, so you always have to take that into account. You also have to take into account the people who are waiting for housing there. I think that at the moment that you also have to say from the municipality of…”
‘That is ridiculous!’
Jort impatiently: “I don’t hear any numbers, Albert.”
Albert irritated: “I’m not going to sit down in front of the entire municipality and say that there are a number? That is ridiculous. I only find…”
Jort: “Yes, but you say you have Ukrainians, but do you also have [andere] refugees?”
Albert: “I don’t know. I can’t say that. No, I can’t say that. But Ukrainians are also refugees, I think. I don’t think you have to make that human difference.”
Jort: “There is a small difference.”
‘Ukrainians yes, others no’
Albert: “Why? What is the difference between leaving a war zone in Syria or leaving a war zone in Ukraine?”
Jort: “I didn’t come up with it, but there is a legal difference, because Ukrainians can work here straight away, they don’t have to ask for asylum and so on. That’s the big difference.”
Political reporter Thomas van Groningen explains to Albert: “The sad thing is that we saw that there were municipalities that said: ‘Do those Ukrainians to me, but don’t do those asylum seekers to me.’ That has happened recently.”
Albert could not say whether this is also the case in Vught.
