State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) will hold an emergency meeting with Koen Schuiling and Hubert Bruls on Tuesday evening about large-scale reception of asylum seekers. There are still large reception locations to be opened this week, if necessary with “very unpleasant directives”, says Bruls on Monday after the Security Council.
Bruls will be present at tomorrow’s meeting as chairman of the Security Council. Schuiling is chairman of the Groningen Security Region, the region that also includes the packed registration center in Ter Apel.
The aim of the consultation is to arrange large-scale reception locations for asylum seekers as soon as possible – preferably this week. There is currently a huge shortage of reception locations, which means that the application center in Ter Apel is overflowing with asylum seekers. Saturday slept a record number of people outside due to the crowds in the application center.
Until now, measures taken by the government have proved insufficient. Last month, the government declared the refugee crisis a national crisis and 300 shelter places were created, but the pressure was only temporarily relieved.
‘Hopeless condition’
Tuesday’s emergency meeting should put a stop to the dike. Bruls: “The way it is now in Ter Apel, it is really no longer possible. The situation is getting more serious every week. We have to think of something, because this is a hopeless situation.”
The 25 security regions indicated in the Security Council on Monday that they believe that the government still does not have the refugee reception in order structurally. They believe that a long-term vision is lacking.
The council promises the State Secretary to make extra efforts until 1 October. Until then, each region will provide 225 extra crisis emergency shelters and the housing of status holders will be speeded up. “After that, the government really has to come up with other solutions,” says Bruls. The Security Council will send a letter about this to the cabinet on Tuesday.
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