Law to distribute asylum seekers fairly "unnecessarily complex": Council of State

The bill to fairly distribute asylum seekers among Dutch municipalities is “unnecessarily complex” and raises “probing questions about its feasibility,” the Council of State said. It advised the government to examine the law again and develop a more straightforward system.

The advice is a new setback for the government, which pushed through this politically sensitive proposal under tremendous pressure. The Netherlands is short thousands of reception places for asylum seekers. It is also under pressure of a court ruling to improve the reception as soon as possible.

State Secretary Eric van der Burg’s (Asylum) new distribution law gives municipalities and provinces more responsibilities in the reception of asylum seekers. Until now, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) has had to look for a municipality that wants to cooperate in opening a shelter. Under this new law, municipalities will be legally obliged to arrange space for a certain number of people.

The Council of State called the law a good idea in itself but thinks it would be better not to submit the proposal in its current form. This will not be a temporary change in how asylum reception is arranged in the Netherlands. It is “structural in nature and aims to achieve a sustainable future perspective for asylum reception.” The law should, therefore, be put together more carefully, the Council of State said.

According to the Council of State, it is still too unclear who will be responsible for what. For example, municipalities can offer reception places voluntarily in exchange for a money bonus, but if not enough places are found, they also have to sit down and arrange extra places. Other aspects of the law have also not been elaborated sufficiently, for example, with regard to which responsibilities will be assigned to the various governments and organizations. The government also needs to be more explicit about the money.

In addition to ambiguity, this will also lead to mutual strife instead of the solidarity the Cabinet hopes for, the Council of State warned.

The Council of State proposed a system that could work. There are already similar rules for housing refugees - people who got a residency permit for the Netherlands after applying for asylum. That is easier to regulate and will help solve the shelter problem. Part of the issue is refugees being stuck in asylum shelters because no housing is available for them. As they can’t move out of the shelters, there’s less room for new asylum seekers coming in.

Whether Van der Burg will change the law remains to be seen. His spokesperson said the Ministry is pleased that the Council of State provided “sound advice” quickly. “Our commitment is to send the bill to parliament as soon as possible. We won’t get ahead of the content and how, what, when.”