The asylum deal on the external borders of the EU must not divert attention from the reception problems in the Netherlands itself. Because the Netherlands is still abandoning Ter Apel, the rest of the North and a large group of asylum seekers.
The four parties that form the cabinet are hopelessly divided about asylum policy. With the promise to reduce the influx with agreements in a European context, Prime Minister Rutte managed to avert the stalled discussion about the dispersal law for months. Now that the agreements on the European external borders have finally been made, there is a real danger that the government will lean back even further. The reception problems within the Netherlands itself will then not be resolved.
Whether you are for or against a generous reception of refugees in the Netherlands, the way in which incoming asylum seekers are treated is degrading. In addition, the costs of asylum reception are unevenly distributed across the Netherlands. Ter Apel and the surrounding area and all sorts of other places in the Northern Netherlands do more than the rest of the country.
It is illustrative that for years attempts have been made to create a special sober reception for asylum seekers who have little chance of being admitted. No municipality wanted to and Ter Apel thought it was already doing enough. In the end, Ter Apel does it himself.
The distribution law has been postponed for months in the House of Representatives. Just like many other plans of State Secretary Eric van der Burg do not get off the ground, as became apparent in an interview in this newspaper on Saturday.
The European agreements that have finally been reached and the deal with Tunisia could just mean that the influx will fall. But there are still all kinds of snags and it remains to be seen how the new policy will work out in practice. And even then, asylum migrants will always keep coming in. Depending on the international situation, this could sometimes be an unexpectedly large number.
The Netherlands must therefore get its own affairs better organized. It cannot be the case that the Immigration Service IND, the Aliens Police and the reception agency COA keep reaching their limits.