Ter Apel will receive a compensation fund in the foreseeable future. This is intended for residents who are incurring costs due to nuisance caused by asylum seekers.
The fund is being set up by the Ministry of Justice and Security, the COA and the municipality of Westerwolde. In the coming weeks it will be determined what the ‘rules of the game’ of the fund are and which damage is eligible for compensation, Mayor Jaap Velema of Westerwolde has informed his municipal council.
First quarter 2024
The fund will come into effect in the first quarter of 2024. From then on, entrepreneurs and other residents of Ter Apel can digitally submit a request for compensation. “It has been promised that State Secretary Eric van den Burg will come to Ter Apel to provide entrepreneurs with an explanation,” said Velema. He does not yet know how much money will be put into the fund. Well, the money comes from the government. “That is responsible for the asylum policy and its consequences.”
The nuisance – in the form of shoplifting, burglaries and vandalism – has been caused for some time now by a group of residents of the asylum center, the so-called safelanders.
Intensive consultation
There is therefore a loud call in ter Apel, especially among entrepreneurs, for a special fund from which damage incurred can be compensated. Councilor Giny Luth, responsible for economic affairs in the village, is consulting intensively with all parties involved. Consultation that will soon lead to the desired goal.
Ronald Hut is vice-chairman of Mercurius, the trade association in Ter Apel, and is happy with the fund. “It is good that people can easily submit a request for compensation.”
Image damage
But Mercurius also wants a fund that helps entrepreneurs in the village with loss of income due to damage to their image; Ter Apel is often negatively in the news because of the asylum center and that can deter people from doing their shopping in the village. And that can make it difficult or very difficult for entrepreneurs. Hut hopes that rules will soon be drawn up for such a fund.
Mayor Velema says that in consultation with the government, the issue of loss of income is certainly on the table and that efforts are being made to help entrepreneurs who are dealing with this.
According to him, a complicating factor is that governments cannot simply provide this aid because it would involve state aid, which is not legally allowed. “But we are doing our best when it comes to this subject.”
Velema also made that promise in this week’s municipal council meeting, in which opposition parties PVV and Lijst Hemmen promoted the issue.
Pressure on the asylum center is slightly less
The asylum center in Ter Apel is in the national spotlight these days because it is overcrowded. So full that refugees had to spend the night in waiting rooms. According to Velema, the pressure was slightly less on Friday because the crisis night shelter in Stadskanaal started. “200 people can go there every night. A number of asylum seekers can also go to the asylum center in Assen. But it remains important that municipalities provide status holders with temporary accommodation, which frees up space in asylum seekers’ centers and improves the flow from Ter Apel.”