Ten full-time boas must be deployed next year to combat the nuisance caused by safelanders in Nieuw-Weerdinge. A proposal to make 200,000 euros available for this purpose received a large majority in the Provincial Council.
Local residents around Nieuw-Weerdinge and the registration center for asylum seekers in Ter Apel have been experiencing nuisance for some time. The perpetrators are mainly safelanders, or asylum seekers from safe countries who have virtually no chance of applying for asylum. The municipality of Emmen wanted the military police to tackle the problems in Nieuw-Weerdinge, but a request to do so was recently rejected by the Ministry of Justice and Security.
The nuisance caused by safelanders must still be tackled by deploying ten boas. The province will immediately release 200,000 euros for this. Drenthe wants to reclaim that amount from the government at a later date. “The original amount was higher, but I am still very happy that this was successful,” says Alfred Schoenmaker of Sterk Lokaal Drenthe, who took the initiative. The motion was adopted with 36 votes in favor and 5 against.
Schoenmaker realizes that the problems in Nieuw-Weerdinge should not actually be the responsibility of the province. “But something has to be done there. The problems are known, I speak to a lot of people in Nieuw-Weerdinge and I also have family living there. If no action is taken, we will have to wait until something goes completely wrong.”
According to Schoenmaker, the government refuses to structurally solve the problems in Ter Apel and the residents in the region have suffered as a result. “The Hague is therefore morally obliged to repay the 200,000 euros. If they do not, they will once again show what they are made of.”
The use of boas will not make the problems in Nieuw-Weerdinge disappear like snow in the sun, Schoenmaker realizes. “But doing nothing is not an option. We can no longer look away.”