Mayor of Emmen: ‘Keep the pressure on for a structural solution Ter Apel’

taketonews

“The sports hall in Bargeres is for two nights, that will definitely not be a location, even if we could accommodate for two or three weeks. But what is more important, and that discussion has been going on for a very long time, is that a solution is found for the long term. So: the pressure towards the central government must remain on it. It must not be placed with one municipality, but across the board.”

Van Oosterhout believes that other municipalities should also lend a hand when it comes to the reception of refugees. “If all municipalities do this properly, we would not have this problem in the Netherlands. We in Emmen are participating nicely. I would rather see more municipalities do that. But I am not paid for that and that is not my job, but I will bring this to the attention of the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG).”

Together with other administrators, Koen Schuiling, as chairman of the Groningen Security Region, calls on for months for a solution for the problems in the reception of asylum seekers in our country. In his view, municipalities that make little or no provision for shelters should be forced to cooperate. In addition, he argues for a second registration center in another region, to relieve the pressure on Ter Apel.
The registration center in Ter Apel is currently the only one in our country. In principle, anyone who wants to apply for asylum in the Netherlands must first go there. Because the asylum influx has been higher than normal since last autumn, the center was regularly overcrowded. The living conditions for the asylum seekers were therefore far from ideal†
In order to put an end to this situation in Ter Apel, Schuiling and mayor Jaap Velema of the Groningen Westerwolde area were able to force the COA and the State Secretary to apply to the application center from now on. up to two thousand people allowed to stay. As it was once agreed. The only question is where the asylum seekers have to goif they are not allowed in, because the maximum capacity is full.

Van der Burg says that he is now in talks with a mayor, chairman of a Security Region and a King’s Commissioner about the establishment of a second application center next to Ter Apel. The state secretary did not say which municipality it concerns.

ttn-41