The State Secretary said this after the scheduled council meeting about the arrival of an asylum seekers center.
He had also announced in advance that he would not make any promises, but would mainly listen to local residents, the municipal authorities and answer questions. “If you make a shitty decision for people, you also have to have the balls to come and explain it yourself,” said Van der Burg. The message from the council and the speakers was unanimous, the State Secretary noted afterwards: “This is not what they want.”
The minister repeated that he hopes that he will not have to force a municipality into asylum reception a second time. “I hope that in the near future I will be able to say on a voluntary basis with many municipalities: ‘we are doing a few hundred places there and a few hundred places there’, also depending on the size of the municipality.”
When he left the town hall in Tubbergen on Tuesday evening, a concerned resident of State Secretary Van der Burg pulled on his jacket. “I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid things will go wrong,” he told the State Secretary on Raadhuisplein.
Local residents ‘asylum hotel’ are stunned and scared
Residents of Albergen are “bewildered and anxious.” That said Hennie de Haan, one of the speakers during the scheduled council meeting in Tubbergen about the unexpected arrival of an asylum seekers center.
De Haan said he was speaking on behalf of various local residents, because her neighbors would like to talk to the State Secretary, but are “emotionally broken”. A petition has now been started, which has now been signed 3,500 times. This was handed over to Van der Burg after the meeting.
Van der Burg wanted to know, among other things, what his considerations were in establishing an asylum seekers’ center in a small community such as Albergen. And thereby passing the residents and the municipal authorities. “We do not see a dictation as a dialogue.”
The situation in Ter Apel is “appalling and shocking and I am ashamed of it,” said De Haan. The residents of Tubbergen do want to contribute to a solution to the refugee crisis. But in consultation, emphasized De Haan. Moreover, it is national politics that has let it get so far out of hand, she added. “We have remained calm and peaceful. That’s how we are.” She asked the Secretary of State to press the emergency button. Loud applause from the public gallery followed. Van der Burg acknowledged that the cabinet owes the current asylum crisis to itself. “You have a point there,” said the state secretary, who also received applause from the public gallery.
The State Secretary called the various demonstrations in Albergen that have been heard since the announcement last week “an example of how it should be done. There was a dignified demonstration.” He also calls the way the council meeting has gone so far, and the input of the first speaker, “dignified and respectful and I appreciate that.”
Council wants to receive asylum seekers, but not forced like now
Within five working days, the Municipal Executive of Tubbergen, State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) and the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) must meet to discuss the reception of asylum seekers in a ‘careful manner’. in Tubbergen. The process must be completed together. A motion calling for this was submitted by the full city council during the extra council meeting.
The council meeting generally went smoothly, with occasional jeers at the State Secretary, expressions of dissatisfaction with the state of affairs and applause for the speakers from the public gallery. Very occasionally, the mayor gave the many present (more than 200 people) to calm down.
The nineteen councilors regret that Tubbergen has come to be known as a municipality that does not want to receive asylum seekers. The Tubbergen council stands for humane asylum reception, which also includes care and education, for example, said CDA party chairman Christel Luttikhuis on behalf of the entire council.