“State Secretary Reverses Decision to Scrap Bed-Bath-Bread Scheme for Asylum Seekers After Outcry”

The State Secretary wanted to scrap the scheme, which costs about 30 million euros annually, because cutbacks had to be made, said a spokesman for Eric van der Burg of Asiel yesterday. This resulted in a lot of commotion, including among the coalition parties D66 and ChristenUnie. MPs from both factions immediately announced that they did not want to get rid of the scheme.

Rotated 180 degrees

Last night, the State Secretary suddenly wrote a letter to the House of Representatives. It stated that there is nothing wrong with the bed-bath-bread scheme, which asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies use.

The so-called National Aliens Facility (LVV) will simply be expanded to a nationwide network as agreed in the coalition agreement. “The cabinet still intends to implement this agreement,” Van der Burg wrote. The note is a 180-degree turn after the spokesperson’s statements earlier in the day.

Sources from The Hague report to the ANP news agency that this is because Van der Burg has been pressured by his coalition partners to continue to spend money on the scheme.

Extremely sensitive

Criticism of the end of the scheme came from across the country yesterday. Not only politicians in The Hague, but also municipalities reacted furiously, not least because they were not informed in advance about the decision of the State Secretary. In 2019, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen, Rotterdam and Utrecht started a pilot for people without a residence permit.

The provision has been extremely sensitive for years. The pilot was a compromise between PvdA and VVD, Rutte II’s coalition parties. That cabinet almost fell over the issue in 2015.

‘Quite remarkable’

The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) considers it wise that the Secretary of State has quickly reversed his decision, said a spokesperson. The state of affairs was called strange, ‘but we will receive clarification from the State Secretary in a subsequent consultation’

Don Ceder of the ChristenUnie is ‘happy that the Secretary of State has come to different insights and will nevertheless ensure decent reception’, said the Member of Parliament in an initial response. The House of Representatives will continue to debate asylum reception today.