Asylum Minister announces plans to reduce budget reserved for asylum seeker activities

Asylum minister Marjolein Faber wants to make cuts to the budget reserved for activities involving asylum seekers, she said on Friday after the weekly Council of Ministers meeting. This comes after plans for a trip with young asylum seekers to the amusement park, the Efteling, were canceled. “I will make cuts wherever I can,” the PVV minister said. Any activities in the future would now have to be financed by the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA).

Faber wants to begin discussions with the COA as soon as possible regarding the activities budget. The minister also attempted to blocked the alternative plans for a trip with the young asylum seekers after the trip to the Efteling had been canceled, however it was reporting on Friday that the COA have decided to continue with the plans. The group consists of around 60 underage people from the Asylum Seekers Center in Sint Annaparochie, half of this group are living in the Netherlands without their family.

Although the COA falls under the Ministry of Asylum and Migration’s responsibilities, it is an independent administrative body. This means that the COA makes its own decisions regarding its work and expenditure. “Whoever pays, decides,” Faber said after announcing her intentions. She pointed out that the COA is financed by the Cabinet. “A very high amount of money goes to the whole asylum shelter.”

The asylum minister thinks that the Netherlands “should definitely not be an attractive place to come to.” She said that she is not in favor of “all these trips. It is not a holiday resort.”

Over 204,000 euros was raised via crowdfunding after it was reported that the trip was canceled. This money was meant to ensure that the young asylum seekers could still have a day trip somewhere. The COA is still looking into how it can get the money to the target group.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof said during his weekly press conference on Friday that Faber's plans were not discussed during the Council of Minister's meeting. He said that he will wait to see what the results are of the negotiations between Faber and the COA. "And if that leads to policy proposals or changes to the law, then we will cross that bridge when we come to it."

Anne-Marijke Podt of D66 responded to the news on X, saying it is all "just noise." The MP added that Faber is not working on support for her law changes, is doing nothing to combat the nuisance being caused by asylum seekers, and is not getting any nearer to implementing the agreements from the European Pact on Migration and Asylum. "all she produces is nonsense and chaos, without a single solution."