The municipality of Westerwolde, to which Ter Apel belongs, is filing a lawsuit against the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). Mayor Jaap Velema said this at EenVandaag on Radio 1. The summary proceedings are on January 10.
According to the mayor, COA has not been adhering to the administrative agreement for a long time, which states that a maximum of 2,000 asylum seekers may stay in Ter Apel. This is a joint action by the municipal council and the Municipal Executive. The aim is the agreements regarding the maximum number of two thousand asylum seekers in the registration center. This has been significantly overwritten for months.
With the summary proceedings, the municipality wants to enforce through the courts that COA complies with the agreements. “The consequences of the problems with asylum reception in the Netherlands have been disproportionately passed on to Ter Apel and its residents for far too long.”
“Despite promises, including those made by the State Secretary for Justice and Security, there has been no improvement. We have now reached the point where the situation is no longer acceptable and legal intervention is required,” explains Mayor Jaap Velema.
Group chairman Marco Visscher of Gemeentebelangen puts it this way: ”The COA has been saying for two years that it is force majeure. If this continues for two years, it is not force majeure, but mismanagement.”
Before going to court, the municipality expressly asked the COA to honor the agreement regarding the maximum of two thousand asylum seekers in the registration center. The municipality subsequently summoned COA to comply with the notice of default and announced that, if this was not done, summary proceedings would be initiated. The COA has not complied with this so-called demand.
According to Velema, the municipality therefore sees no other option than to submit the matter to the court. “This is a major step that the municipality is taking reluctantly, but which has now become inevitable. An unworkable and, above all, inhumane situation has arisen. Something must be done,” said the mayor of Westerwolde.