“Groningen Takes Action: Sending Signal to The Hague Regarding Asylum Crisis in Ter Apel”

The Provincial Council gave this order to the Groningen provincial government on Wednesday through an almost unanimously supported motion. With this, the province wants to send a strong signal to the cabinet and the House of Representatives. Only FvD and PVV voted against this initiative proposal by CDA party leader Robert de Wit.

Not another summer sleeper

Provincial politicians are getting impatient with The Hague’s inability to do anything about the continuing nuisance caused by so-called ‘safelanders’ and the glaring shortage of reception capacity in Ter Apel. This summer, according to State Secretary Eric van der Burg, asylum seekers may again have to sleep outside the gate of the asylum center, just like last year.

According to CDA leader De Wit, this requires a sharp response towards The Hague. Groningen finally wants to see a solution. Although the province has no formal role in asylum policy, the motion is intended to support the municipality of Westerwolde and the Groningen Security Region in their fight for a solution.

The Wits motion calls on the Provincial Executive to arrange accommodation or extra enforcement capacity with its own provincial money if necessary if Ter Apel is again confronted with sleepers or unrest by asylum seekers. And The Hague can expect the bill for that afterwards.

Groningen no longer wants to stand alone

Above all, the Parliament wants to put the ball down with the national government and municipalities outside Groningen with their motion. The latter must offer more reception places so that the asylum reception is spread more evenly and Ter Apel is no longer alone. The government must adhere to the agreed maximum number of 2,000 asylum seekers and arrange ‘immediately’ that everyone it sends to Ter Apel is assured of accommodation.

The States were initially divided about the role that the province is taking on with the motion to solve the problem. GroenLinks spokesperson Bas de Boer sees it as “a symbolic step”: “This gives us as a province the opportunity to show our humanity when it comes down to it.”

However, other parties and also deputy Tjeerd van Dekken were afraid that the government would gladly leave a solution to the province and would not be willing to reimburse the costs afterwards. “This puts the province in the wrong seat, the government is responsible,” said Van Dekken.

‘We don’t do that in earthquake files either’

VVD party leader Erik Jan Bennema also warned against the ‘undesirable precedent effect’ if the province corrects the government if it believes that things are not being arranged properly. “We don’t do that in the earthquake file either.” Bennema also pointed out that Van der Burg himself has 45 million available to tackle the asylum crisis. “This is not a financial problem, but an organizational problem.”

Nevertheless, both the VVD and the Provincial Executive eventually went along with the signal that the majority in the Parliament wants to send to The Hague. Van Dekken sees the motion as an additional means of pressure if the government remains deaf to the cries of distress from the municipality of Westerwolde and the security region about the current humanitarian crisis in Ter Apel.

According to initiator De Wit, the question is in any case whether Groningen will really have to intervene in acute emergencies. The motion is precisely intended to anticipate that moment, as a symbolic incentive for the government to take action. “This is not a blank check,” emphasizes the CDA leader.