The asylum seekers were accommodated in extra tents at the application center, for which the permit expired today. It had been known for quite some time that this would happen. State Secretary Van der Burg shows understanding for Mayor Jaap Velema of the municipality of Westerwolde, who did not want to renew the permit. ‘He says: I have more than accomplished our task, and have done extra. Now it’s the rest of the Netherlands’ turn.’
Van der Burg thinks it is ‘really a defeat’ that it has not been possible to find enough shelters, he repeated on Tuesday. He says he will have to arrange childcare in the coming month ‘with a lot of stress, a lot of calling’ to solve the problem. He calls it ‘very undesirable’ that the asylum seekers are currently literally standing on the doorstep in Ter Apel, in uncertainty about their whereabouts tonight.
More relatives due to the end of the corona pandemic
According to Van der Burg, the Netherlands still needs a ‘second, third, perhaps fourth Ter Apel’. According to Van der Burg, an explanation for the relatively high influx of people is the growth in the number of so-called relatives. In the past two years, few relatives of status holders traveled to the Netherlands due to the corona pandemic. In addition, too few status holders move on to a normal home, as a result of which they occupy places in the asylum seekers’ centres.
The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) reports that no alternative shelter has yet been found for the three hundred refugees. “Everyone is looking for shelter, but nothing is final yet,” said the spokesperson. It is not yet clear where the group will be staying on Tuesday evening. At the moment, the lack of places is ‘very visible’, says the spokesperson. ‘And when a shelter has been found for these three hundred people, new people will arrive tomorrow.’