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NOS News•today, 07:27
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The cabinet is today discussing a plan by State Secretary Van der Burg to make municipalities in the Netherlands obliged to cooperate in asylum reception. If he gets the green light, he will draft a bill in the summer. Van der Burg hopes that the House of Representatives and the Senate will agree in the autumn, so that the new ‘dwangwet‘as it is sometimes called, can enter into force on 1 January.
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It is not yet clear what exactly will be included in the bill. Van der Burg will send a letter to the House of Representatives about this later today. But in a debate on immigration and asylum policy, he already lifted a corner of the veil. He believes that every municipality in the Netherlands should be able to be forced to contribute to asylum reception.
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‘Half of the municipalities are not cooperating now’
Van der Burg says that a number of municipalities “help exceptionally well”, but points out that about half of the municipalities are not cooperating to solve the asylum crisis.
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The fact that there will be a new law “does not mean that every municipality will have an asylum seekers center”, says the state secretary. “Because you are not right 344 azc‘s needed. Municipalities may also contribute in a different way. That could be in support, or in money.”
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For example, you may also be asked to provide shelter to unaccompanied minor asylum seekers or other specific groups. “It concerns a law that creates the possibility in every municipality to realize a location for the COA (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers).”
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Directing role provincial governments
Van der Burg wants to achieve that asylum reception is distributed evenly across the country. He would like to see a “directing role” for the provincial authorities. They also have to carry out other assignments in their area, such as filling in the government’s nitrogen plans, and are best to decide: “That municipality is being asked a little more for a while than another municipality, because it already does more in the field of something else, which is why the provinces must play an important role,” says the minister.
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Whether it works out that way will become clear later today. According to the State Secretary, there are various scenarios on the table and there is still discussion about whether it should indeed be the provinces that will instruct the municipalities what needs to be done, or whether the government should still be in charge.
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