The Amsterdam administrative triangle, consisting of mayor Halsema and the local police and the Public Prosecution Service, calls on the Senate to vote against a bill on the squatting ban this afternoon. Mayor Halsema writes this in an open letter to the Senate.
The private member’s bill of MPs Koerhuis (VVD) and Van Toorenburg (CDA) was already passed by the Lower House in December, despite strong criticism from, among others, the Council of State, the national Public Prosecution Service and the Association of Dutch Municipalities.
The VVD and CDA proposal must ensure that squatters can be evicted more quickly from the buildings they have squatted. Alleged squatters are now still being tried in summary proceedings, until then they may not be deported. That can take up to eight weeks.
If the squatting ban is tightened, squatters will from now on be judged by criminal law instead of civil law. In this way, a case could be reviewed by an examining magistrate within three days.
‘Strong increase in workload’
According to the Amsterdam triangle, the law will be counterproductive, Halsema writes. At the moment, only 30 percent of squatted buildings are brought to summary proceedings, in other cases the squatters leave before it gets that far.
“The bill will lead to a significant increase in the workload for the police, the Public Prosecution Service and the court. Now files are only made if summary proceedings have been instituted. This will soon have to be done for all cases. That means an increase of 231%.”
The proposal is also intended to solve a problem that virtually no longer exists, Halsema writes: “Every squatted building, for which an owner has concrete plans, will be evacuated as soon as possible. no less than 80%. For example, 86 buildings were squatted in 2019, compared to only 15 in total last year (2020). “
In short, Halsema concludes: “Effective, local enforcement of the squatting ban is in no way served by this bill and we request that you involve this in your final judgment.”
The first room votes today at 13:55 about the bill.
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