Angry citizens, violence and threats: there has been a lot of unrest in the province lately about the arrival of a possible reception for asylum seekers. In Berlicum, a reception location did not take place after riots outbreak. The municipality of Roosendaal blew the plan for an AZC in Heerle and now has to look for a different location, after residents here too protested. And in Best an information evening got out of hand. Why is there any discussion and unrest about an AZC in so many municipalities?
This has to do with the Springing Act that started on 1 February this year. That is the reason that municipalities are so busy now to designate new locations. The reception by municipalities must be arranged before 1 July.
The asylum inflow is declining, why do locations have to be added?
The number of people requesting asylum in the Netherlands has fallen slightly last year, according to figures from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). But the asylum shelter beeps and crackles. The temporary registration locations Ter Apel and Budel are full. Refugees who have reported there must move on to other AZCs in the country. So that Ter Apel and Budel are relieved. Exactly the reason why the Spreading Act was adopted in January 2024.
But what is the Spreading Act?
The Spreading Act ensures that the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) municipalities no longer have to ask neatly whether they want to absorb asylum seekers. Municipalities are obliged to do that by this law. Every province has been told how many people they have to take care of. For Brabant, that means that there must be 14,689 reception places.
Municipalities encounter resistance when they designate a location, can they get away from it?
No, not actually. But after the Spreading Act was adopted after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, a new cabinet took place in June 2024. The largest party as the PVV and Marjolein Faber as Minister of Asylum and Migration. They want to have that spreading law off the table.
And the latter is exactly the difficulty. Because the Spreading Act may be in force at the moment, in the meantime there is plenty of political politics. That causes confusion. Because if a reception location is postponed, it can just mean that in the long term no reception is needed within the municipality, because the Spreading Act is then off the table.
Although the latter can take a while, the plans of Minister Faber are controversial and so far are not getting off the ground.