The discussion about the asylum boat in Velsen-Noord keeps people busy. At the entrance of the village, residents of Velsen-Noord have hung a banner that leaves little to the imagination when it comes to the position of mayor Frank Dales.
They blame Dale’s unreliability. When the boat with a thousand asylum seekers moored in September in the North Sea Canal just outside the village centre, the mayor made an agreement with Velsen-Noord that the ship would remain in the village until March 1, and not a day longer. But under pressure from Secretary of State Eric van der Burg (asylum and migration), who is short of 40,000 reception places in the country, the lobby to leave the floating emergency shelter longer has erupted in all its violence.
Pressure
Besides the pressure from The Hague and the fact that hardly any incidents have occurred with the refugees in the village, the successful integration of a hundred children who receive education in the region and the internships of men at companies in the IJmond play a role in the changed sentiment in the municipality. The mayor and aldermen have proposed to the municipal council to accommodate this group of approximately two hundred children and adults on a smaller ship and to return the care for the reception of the other asylum seekers to the COA (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers).
Minimum majority
But the city council wants to gauge how much support there is for an extended stay of the cruise ship with a thousand asylum seekers and has decided with a minimal majority to conduct a digital survey. At the beginning of March, a questionnaire will appear in the (digital) mailbox of all people aged eighteen and older in Velsen-Noord. Whatever the outcome, in both cases the ship will stay longer than the agreed date of 1 March. If a majority of Velsen-Noord is in favor of an extension, the ship will probably remain until September. But even if the village says ‘no’, it will not have left until mid-April due to the time taken up by the poll.
Earlier this week, Mayor Dales called the survey “an enrichment of decision-making.” Judging by the banner, Velsen-Noorders believe that the poll promotes further polarization.