Faber orders refugee centres nationwide to place more beds

Asylum minister Marjolein Faber has told all the country’s refugee centres to provide one or two extra beds to head off the risk of further court cases in Ter Apel, the AD reported on Friday.

Faber, a minister on behalf of the far-right PVV, aims to prevent Westerwolde council from taking further legal action if the limit on refugees at the Ter Apel reception center is exceeded, the paper said. 

The instruction comes in the form of a letter from a senior civil servant to the COA refugee settlement agency, which the AD has a copy of. The move, described as a “last resort”, will boost capacity nationwide by 2,000 people.

Westerwold has set September 1 as a deadline and says it will go back to court if more than 2,000 people are sleeping at the centre.  Earlier, the COA was ordered to pay the council €1.5 million in compensation for breaking the limit over several weeks.

Sources suggest Faber wants to do all she can to prevent another court hearing and has now resorted to force to get the COA to comply. The move is noteworthy because the PVV opposes forcing local councils to take in refugees.

“It is an urgent demand,” a ministry spokesman told Nu.nl. “We don’t know how the COA is going to do it, but it has to be done before September 1.”

The party is also the main opponent of legislation that requires all the country’s 342 local authority areas to take in their fair share of refugees and spread the burden more equitably around the country. Dozens councils currently provide no accommodation at all.

The Netherlands has 89 regular refugee centres and 195 locations for emergency accommodation, all of which are currently full.