Our reporter Saskia Belleman was present at the summary proceedings and tweeted along live. Her tweets can be found at the bottom of this post.
Owner Maria Olde Heuvel invoked error and deception, but according to Judge Van Houten there was no question of that. The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers reacted with joy, but not with joy. ,,We have to move towards a bit of peace and we have to talk to each other. That has not happened yet because we immediately ended up in a kind of rollercoaster.”
First asylum seekers in a month
The COA expects that the first asylum seekers and/or status holders will move into the hotel in about a month. After a renovation, there will be room for about 200 people. That number can be scaled up to 300 if units are added next to the hotel, but it is not certain whether that will happen, spokesman Schoenmaker said after the lawsuit. “We understand the concerns of the residents and we also want to be a good neighbor.”
Maria Olde Heuvel was visibly uncomfortable in the hearing room of the court in Almelo. Red-faced, gesturing her hands, she emphasizes it several times: If she had known that COA planned to accommodate 2 to 300 people in her hotel in Albergen, she would never have sold it.
According to the COA, Olde Heuvel has succumbed to pressure from the environment and therefore tried to get out of the purchase agreement. The summary proceedings were attended by dozens of residents of the municipality of Tubbergen. Some of them left the room demonstratively during the verdict. The arrival of asylum seekers led to massive protests in Tubbergen and the surrounding area. An arson attempt was made just hours before the summary proceedings.
COA has played an open card
Lawyer Alain de Jonge says that the COA has been completely open-minded from the start. “From the outset it was clear what COA wanted to use ‘t Elshuys for. And both Olde Heuvel and her broker saw the hotel’s potential as a reception location. She was overjoyed that she could sell it, she had been working on that for three years,” said De Jonge. “And if you don’t want asylum seekers to be accommodated in it, why are you selling to COA?”
De Jonge emphasized that there is an emergency situation in Ter Apel that must be ended as soon as possible. “The hotel is a drop in the ocean, but we can’t afford to waste the smallest drop.”
The COA instituted summary proceedings because the hotel was to be delivered today. That just has to go on, says De Jonge. ,,It’s no use crying over spilled milk.”
“If I had known that, I would never have sold”
According to lawyer Erik Nijhoff, the degrading conditions in Ter Apel are the result of failing government policy and cannot work out to the detriment of Maria Olde Heuvel. said her lawyer Erik Nijhoff. The lawyer says that it is not so bad with the need to use this drop in the ocean. According to him, there are several empty buildings that the State can quickly set up as reception locations, such as the former Pieter Baan Center in Utrecht, the old tax office in Leeuwarden, or a former police station in Amsterdam.
Maria Oude Heuvel says that she has always said that ‘t Elshuys has 28 rooms with 74 beds. ,,That can be stretched to 80. I thought the environment would eventually embrace that number. But 300?”
She only realized what the COA was up to when a neighbor told her what was in the media, she says. “I went crazy. That is not possible at all.” The fact that COA apparently also wanted to place units next to the hotel closed the door for her, she said. “If I had known that, I would never have sold.”
Olde Heuvel and her lawyer could not be reached for comment after the verdict.
Protest at Landhotel ‘t Elshuys in Albergen. The cabinet has issued a permit for the reception of asylum seekers at this location.
AP