One in six new local parties in municipal elections against opening asylum shelters
New local parties are participating in the municipal elections next month in many Dutch towns and cities. About one in six of these new parties is explicitly against opening asylum shelters in their towns, EenVandaag found when surveying the Dutch municipalities. These parties want to go against the Asylum Distribution Law, which requires municipalities to take in a fair share of asylum seekers.
Of the 342 municipalities in the Netherlands, 273 answered EenVandaag’s questions. A total of 141 new local parties are participating in next month’s municipal elections across 104 municipalities. Approximately 17 percent of these new parties, 24 in total, are explicitly against allowing asylum seekers to stay in their town.
The Asylum Distribution Law obliges municipalities to take in a fair share of asylum seekers, which means opening shelters in many places that haven’t sheltered people fleeing war and persecution before. Last year, fierce protests against new shelters broke out in many places, including some in which the riot police had to intervene. Local politicians also reported many more threats against them, many due to plans for an asylum shelter.
This sentiment is now reflected in the election campaign, with at least 24 new local parties wanting to influence the asylum policy in their municipality through the municipal council.
EenVandaag added that over 80 percent of new parties do not state in their election campaigns whether or not they support opening asylum shelters. In addition to those who are explicitly against opening shelters, there are also some new parties that state outright that they want to adhere to the Asylum Distribution Law.
A striking number set strict conditions on new reception centers, such as only wanting small-scale shelters with sufficient security. Several also said they’d only allow shelters outside of residential areas.
The rise of these new local parties comes at a time when the implementation of the Asylum Distribution Law is already proving difficult. Two years after its introduction, the target of nearly 103,000 shelter spaces is still far out of sight.
At the end of January, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) had approximately 80,000 beds available. Many of which are located in temporary emergency shelters that will close soon, with no new location lined up, according to figures NRC requested from the COA.
The figures show that only four in ten municipalities are meeting their target. Nearly 200 municipalities have insufficient shelter space. Over 100 have no asylum shelter at all.
