Mayors no longer trust themselves that the Central Office for the Admission of Asylum Seekers (COA) can take over the emergency shelters of the municipalities from January, as promised in the asylum deal. That is why they are now setting a new deadline, according to a note in the hands of RTL Nieuws.

Four mayors say they will shut down the crisis emergency department after April 1 unless there is more clarity about the distribution of asylum admissions. The memorandum is part of discussions that have been going on for some time between the security regions, COA and the national government, said a spokesman for Hubert Bruls, mayor of Nijmegen and also chairman of the security council.

“Something has to be done for the municipalities now, because they have been dealing with the asylum problem for a long time. January 1st now seems unrealistic to shift reception to the COA and the promised October 1st law is also in effect. not yet.”

January 1st was mentioned in the asylum agreement

At the end of August, the cabinet concluded an agreement on asylum reception with municipalities, provinces and security regions. She named January 1, 2023 as the date on which the municipalities could stop providing emergency crisis accommodation – the temporary and very economical accommodation of asylum seekers, for example in gyms and sports halls.

From this point on, the COA would take over the entire asylum reception again. However, according to the latest estimates, this is not realistic; According to a forecast leaked yesterday, the COA is still about 10,000 spots short in January.

Security regions are stepping on the brakes

The memorandum, written on behalf of the Security Council by Mayors Dijksma (Utrecht), Dijsselbloem (Eindhoven), Bruls (Nijmegen) and Van den Top (Hilversum), proposes setting April 1 as the deadline for the provision of emergency shelters for to maintain emergencies.

The mayors initially want more clarity about two conditions that they had attached to it: firstly, the new asylum reception law, which State Secretary Van der Burg (Justice and Security) had promised in the draft three weeks ago, and secondly, the transition plan of the COA. The Federal Government does not currently meet either of these requirements, so that the security regions are stepping on the brakes.

hurry

Van der Burg announced last week that the bill to distribute the reception of asylum seekers in the Netherlands more fairly among the municipalities would not be announced until next week. That is three weeks later than Van der Burg promised in the asylum agreement. According to insiders, the delay was caused by resistance within Van der Burg’s own VVD. The party does not want municipalities to be forced to accept asylum seekers in proportion to their population.

As chairman of the Security Council, Bruls asked the state secretary to hurry up, he told de Volkskrant. “If this law is not passed, we have a serious problem,” he says in the newspaper. “I also address this message to the House of Representatives. I don’t care what we call this law, distribution law or coercion law. The effect must be the same: that everyone contributes to receiving asylum.”

Tomorrow, the Security Regions and COA will further discuss asylum admission.