Minister Faber blames COA for overcrowded Ter Apel reception center

According to Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber, the rush to place additional asylum seekers from Ter Apel in reception centers is the fault of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). "The COA was aware of this, they had weeks to do this," she said after the Council of Ministers in response to the surprise about the emergency measure. "Then, in my opinion, too little work was done on it." Faber also referred to municipalities with free places but leaving the overcrowded Ter Apel out in the cold.

The COA announced on Friday that, with Faber's approval, it wanted to accommodate one or two additional asylum seekers in all asylum application centers and crisis reception centers by next Sunday. This could save a few hundred beds in the application center in Ter Apel. This is more than agreed with the municipality, threatening legal action and a penalty payment. That's why September 1 was "D-Day," says Faber, and claims that the COA was well aware of this. "Then I think they could have acted a little sooner. Now it's very short notice."

Faber insists that municipalities that refuse the additional asylum seekers will not be forced. "Then we will consult. That is not coercion." She rejects the comparison with the distribution law, which regulates the distribution of asylum seekers across the country.

Faber argues that the additional asylum seekers could "simply be accommodated in the existing reception centers, "even if the municipalities immediately object that their asylum seeker centers are also almost full. According to the WEG, these beds are available. There is room for one or two people. And then it's just solved."

The PVV minister, therefore, does not believe that she should blindside the municipalities and call them. In her opinion, the extra accommodation does not violate any agreements. According to Faber, the municipalities with empty places have some explaining to do because "I have discovered that there are free places that are not being used. That is also a mystery to me". Faber's predecessor, Eric van der Burg, had already warned that the municipalities would become more reluctant to accept asylum seekers if the distribution law was withdrawn.

However, it is still unclear whether the removal of asylum seekers will relieve the situation in Ter Apel. "Every day, even in the weekend, new people are registering," a COA spokesperson told AD. This amounts to 800 asylum seekers per week, according to the newsapper.

The opposition parties called the measure "bizarre" and a recipe for "chaos." The minister could simply distribute the asylum seekers fairly with the distribution law, say D66, ChristenUnie, and GroenLinks-PvdA. Faber would only tax the municipalities that have already paid their share. Claudia van Zanten of the BBB government party understands the need to relieve Ter Apel, provided that no coercion is exercised and the agreements with the municipalities remain intact.

Amsterdam alderman Rutger Groot Wassink (Asylum) calls it "bizarre" that asylum minister Marjolein Faber has made the decision to place extra asylum seekers in all reception locations without consulting the municipalities. "Moreover, municipalities that are already generously committed are now once again being burdened extra, while there are also municipalities that do nothing and are being spared in this way," according to the alderman.

"It is also shocking that the reason for this appeal seems to be to prevent legal proceedings instead of the humane reception of refugees," says Groot Wassink. The alderman resigned in June as chairman and board member of the asylum committee of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) because he does not want to cooperate in that role with a cabinet of which the PVV is a member. Faber is a minister on behalf of the PVV.

"Although this minister likes to pretend that we have an asylum crisis, that is not the case: we have a created reception problem," says Groot Wassink. "It goes without saying that Amsterdam will look at the minister's request because we care about the fate of refugees." Amsterdam has approximately 4,000 reception places for asylum seekers and status holders.

Groot Wassink previously said that he would not answer the phone if the asylum minister called him, but he retracted that. "I am the only one who is administratively responsible for that. The consequence is that if I, as an alderman, have to deal with the Cabinet administratively, I will do so," he said in June to the municipal council.

The COA has stated that it does not wish to comment on the minister's statements.