Franc Weerwind, Minister for Legal Protection in the former Rutte IV cabinet (D66), will temporarily take over as mayor of Terneuzen. That reports the province of Zeeland on Tuesday. Weerwind previously served as mayor in Almere, Velsen and Niedorp. “Terneuzen is in good hands with Franc,” said Hugo de Jonge, King’s Commissioner in Zeeland.
Erik van Merrienboer (PvdA) resigned as mayor of Terneuzen at the end of November, after the municipal council voted against granting a permit for an asylum seekers’ center. Sixteen council members voted against the reception of a maximum of two hundred asylum seekers on an industrial estate, thirteen in favor. The council of aldermen followed the negative advice.
The mayor stated in his resignation letter that he was very surprised and displeased by the vote against. Last summer, the council agreed with the asylum seekers’ center if thirteen conditions were met in the areas of safety, participation and quality of life.
‘Annoying emails’
There were fierce protests against the arrival of the asylum seekers’ center in the Zeeland city. For example, opponents posted a book of faces of council members who were in favor of the arrival of the shelter on social media. The caption read: “These rats voted in favor.”
A councilor also received, according to his own words, “nasty emails”, he told Omroep Zeeland anonymously. When the councilor sounded the alarm, colleagues reportedly said that the person should “go on holiday.” CDA councilor Rolf Mobach did not even dare to vote on the arrival of the asylum seekers’ center during a council meeting.
According to then mayor Merrienboer, the council caused an “impossible administrative split” with its later vote against. He spoke of a “breach of confidence in the cooperation with your council.” “Because what are really the prevailing objections to the permit that must be substantiated with facts?” the PvdA member wanted to know.
Weather wind
As Minister of Legal Protection, Weerwind was concerned, among other things, with the cell shortage. For example, he advocated temporarily not arresting people who should be imprisoned because they did not pay a fine or did not perform their community service. He also introduced a ‘capacity leave’: detainees with a prison sentence of up to one year would be sent home with an ankle bracelet if they had served two-thirds of their sentence. The measure does not apply to sex offenders and perpetrators of serious violence.
The Council for the Judiciary took strong action against Weerwind’s intention not to temporarily detain convicts. The measure would undermine the position of the judge. Former NSC MP Judith Uitermark, a former judge, also expressed criticism: “The minister single-handedly changes the judge’s sentence to a different type of punishment than that imposed by the judge.”
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