Negotiations with neighboring municipalities about the distribution of asylum seekers have yet to start, but the municipality of Westland wants to make something clear; we don’t want asylum seekers. The dispersal law, which distributes the reception of asylum seekers across the Netherlands and which also has a mandate for the Westland, is ‘not applicable’ for them, according to the municipal council.
The council must pass on that message to the cabinet and House of Representatives. 27 councilors voted in favor of a motion calling for the dispersal law that has been in force since February 1. Eleven councilors voted against. Since the law was passed by the Senate last week, Westland is the first municipality to protest against the law.
With the motion, the parties also want to send a signal to other municipalities. Group chairman Peter Duijsens of Westland Verstandig hopes that others will follow their example and also say that it is not possible for them to create shelters.
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Too few places for asylum seekers in our municipality? ‘We already have Ukrainians – and migrant workers’
It has been known for some time that the South Holland municipality of Westland does not want asylum seekers within the municipal boundaries. The last time asylum seekers were welcome in the municipality was in 2010. Last week there again appeared to be little willingness to receive asylum seekers. On the day that the distribution law received a majority in the Senate, there were protests in the greenhouse horticulture municipality. “We will not allow anything to be imposed on us,” said the group leader of GemeenteBelang Westland, Remmert Keizer to Omroep West.
Westland has been tasked with arranging 702 reception places for asylum seekers, sixty of which for unaccompanied minor refugees, it was stated in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. In extreme cases, a minister can oblige a municipality to provide shelter. But before the minister imposes anything, municipalities are given time to negotiate among themselves. Provinces as a whole must submit a reception plan to the minister later in the year.
Migrant workers
A majority of the council does not want the 702 asylum seekers, because the municipality already accommodates Ukrainian refugees, they said during the meeting. More than is legally required of them, they emphasize. Young people and starters from Westland cannot or hardly be housed within the municipal boundary, they also use this as an argument. And the municipality where greenhouse horticulture is by far the largest source of income already houses migrant workers who work in the greenhouses.
The motion signatories ignore the fact that the majority of migrant workers who work in Westland are forced to live in surrounding municipalities and that the municipality has difficulty arranging housing for migrant workers.
‘Young males’
There is no ‘support’ for the reception of asylum seekers in the Westland, says Duijssens. The PVV victory in the elections last November is important proof of that lack of support for shelter, he believes. And people are suspicious of asylum seekers, he thinks, because mainly “young males” come to the Netherlands.
He does not have any figures about the young men, when D66 councilor Benjamin Hofland asks him about them. Isn’t he actually feeding distrust with unsubstantiated statements, the D66 member wants to know. Hofland is in favor of the distribution law and wants the municipality to take responsibility. He was embarrassed this week. “We are the losers of the Netherlands.”
Support base. It is a frequently heard argument from councilors in Westland against imposed plans from the cabinet. It was the main reason why they were against the establishment of an Islamic school. The then education minister Arie Slob gave permission for the school after all. Litigation took place all the way to the Council of State, but Slob was right. The school was built and opened in 2022.