If there is no relief for the overcrowded asylum capital Ter Apel, the province of Groningen is seriously considering renting hotel space elsewhere in the country as emergency shelter.
If the Netherlands does nothing to relieve the asylum pressure on Groningen, the province will be forced to look for solutions itself, says King’s Commissioner René Paas. His patience has now also completely run out. “If the Netherlands continues to sit on its hands, trouble will break out here,” he warns.
Christian Union faction leader Fredric Geijtenbeek provided the starting point on Wednesday in a committee meeting of the Groningen States: “What is stopping us from looking for hotel space elsewhere in the country?” he told the CDK. CDA faction leader Robert de Wit knows where the bill should go: “It is for the government.”
A drastic step, but also “a conceivable means of action,” says Commissioner Paas. This week, Stadskanaal and the city of Groningen had to step into the breach again to immediately relieve the overcrowded registration center in Ter Apel with three hundred emergency shelters.
Groningen is having a bad time
This means that Groningen is once again taking on more than what was strictly assigned to it by the government. While many municipalities elsewhere in the country are still far from achieving their target, CDK Paas notes. Now that the “very necessary” Spread Act has still not been implemented, he does not see that changing easily. “Good will is not everywhere.”
So Groningen will bring ‘Ter Apeler asylum seekers’ itself if necessary. Although this will be quite difficult in practice, Paas notes. “The question is whether hotels will cooperate and whether the buses will reach their destination.”
To finally enforce improvement, the Groningen commissioner is now committed to: “maximum pressure on municipalities and fellow commissioners to prevent Groningen from having to again take the measures that are not being taken in the rest of the country.”
Groningen is now stepping into the breach once again, but is “smothered in it”, according to Paas. The consultation about this with the Groningen mayors at the Provincial Migration and Integration Steering Table was already an emotional affair this week. “Directors who generally keep it dry were full of steam,” the commissioner outlines.
Very angry
Groningen administrators are “very angry and frustrated,” says Paas. As long as the number of shelters in the country does not increase drastically, Ter Apel will find itself in emergency situations again and again, he warns.
The reception center was built for 2,000 asylum seekers, but in practice it has been 2,400 to 2,500 for some time. As a result, residents have to sleep in waiting areas and on the floor. According to Paas, the three hundred shelters will provide relief for the time being, but without drastic measures, “it is a matter of time before the problems become enormous again.”