Mayor Jaap Velema of the municipality of Westerwolde will receive the Machiavelli Prize this year. The Machiavelli Foundation has announced this. The prize is awarded annually to someone who has made a “remarkable achievement” in communication between politics, government and citizens.
“Mayor Velema communicates clearly and sharply. And yet not polarizing despite the very sensitive subject,” reads the jury report about his communication around the overcrowded registration center in Ter Apel. “He uses various means of communication to get the story of his municipality and the interests of its residents on the agenda. At the same time, he knows how to draw attention to the problems in asylum reception.”
According to the foundation, the mayor continues to “work tirelessly for the interests of everyone in his municipality. Also for the people who literally had to sleep outside due to the stagnant policy in The Hague.” The jury report continues: “Despite sometimes rising tensions, Ter Apel has been living with the registration center in the municipality for years. The way in which the community in Ter Apel has carried this for years is an example for many other, and much larger, municipalities.”
Velema will receive the prize on February 14 from the chairman of the Machiavelli Foundation, Marja Wagenaar, in Nieuwspoort in The Hague. It is the 35th time that the prize has been awarded. Previous winners include Johan Remkes, Gerrit Hiemstra, Marion Koopmans and Diederik Gommers and the journalistic collective Bellingcat.