The Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) demands measures from the outgoing cabinet against the major problems with the asylum reception. In a letter to the government, among other things, it is pointed out that the situation around Ter Apel escalates again. “It runs out of the claws.”
VNG chairman Sharon Dijksma points out in the letter that the reception of asylum seekers in our country has fully stuck. “At the same time, incidents with a group of nuisance -giving asylum seekers are increasing and the municipalities can no longer organize the asylum chain,” she writes.
The municipalities express their great concern about the increasing violence against local administrators and police, such as last weekend at a demonstration in The Hague. “The sum is explosive: local intimidation and violence, continuous overload from Ter Apel, growing frustration among residents and administrators, and signals from The Hague that actually undermines the performance of legal tasks.”
It is pointed out that municipalities have repeatedly asked for help from the cabinet. Without results: “Local drivers are in the cold without any support from the cabinet. As long as inflow, flow, settlement and return do not function, municipalities continue to pay the bill in money, in support and in safety. We no longer accept that.”
“We will first study the letter, then we look further,” says a spokesperson for outgoing Prime Minister Schoof.
The organization of municipalities requires the government to take control and give local administrators back cover. The municipality of Westerwolde sounds familiar to the latter.
During the Westerwolde municipal council meeting, Mayor Jaap Velema did not hide his disappointment last week about the absence of the approach by the government. For example, Minister Mona Keijzer refused to call the national directing table together to discuss the major problems in Ter Apel.
In recent weeks, several municipalities have taken up their plans for opening AZCs after high emotions and threats, or they postponed. With Amersfoort as the most recent example. As a result, little ends up from the Spreading Act, which should ensure a fairer distribution of the reception places throughout the country. Now that several plans have been withdrawn, a solution for Ter Apel is getting further out of sight.
According to a spokesperson for the COA, it is still possible to give the asylum seekers who have to be taken care of extra within the gate of the registration center. “It’s about safety and quality of life. We keep a close eye on them,” says the spokesperson.