Many crisis emergency reception centers for asylum seekers will close soon, while a large influx of asylum seekers is expected to arrive in the Netherlands this spring. It worries the PvdA in Assen.
“You read and hear more and more about the upcoming asylum crisis and that it is getting more intense than last year,” says PvdA councilor Willard Bouwmeester. “There is still a lot of uncertainty and there are no solutions yet. We are concerned about that. Here in Assen, of course, we also receive many refugees in the Expo hall, and it is still not entirely clear what will happen with that.”
The halls in Assen are set up as emergency shelters, not crisis shelters. The contract with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers runs until 31 May.
According to the PvdA, the reception in the Expo Assen is logically finite, because the owner has new plans for the spaces. The party wants the mayor and aldermen to switch on time. “We hope that the Executive Board is well aware of the impending crisis and that it also thinks about solutions in good time,” Bouwmeester explains.
According to the PvdA member, the college is benevolent. Bouwmeester: “As a city, we have been taking responsibility for a long time, much more than other regions in the country. It is extremely difficult, a struggle for all municipalities. We also do not have an 1-2-3 solution.”
However, the party has suggested the vaccination location in Assen. “We have to look for a place where we can provide people with humane care, also for a longer term. The crisis emergency shelter locations are always temporary. People have to move from place to place, that uncertainty is not desirable in our view.”