Refugee agency COA has been fined €50,000 after exceeding the limit set by a court for the number of asylum seekers staying at the reception centre in Ter Apel.

The agency breached the limit of 2,000 residents for the first time in 10 months on Tuesday, triggering the penalty, which will be paid to the local council in Westerwolde.

COA said it expected the number of asylum seekers in Ter Apel to increase again on Wednesday, which will require it to pay another €50,000 to the municipality.

The agency blamed the decision to close a number of temporary facilities elsewhere in the country which it had used to ease the pressure on Ter Apel, as well as the seasonal increase in refugees arriving in the early autumn.

“The COA warned about the increasing pressure on our accommodation in mid-July and appealed for more places to be made available in the short term. Unfortunately this appeal did not produce enough places,” a spokesman said.

€1.5m bill

The municipality petitioned the court in February 2024 to impose a fine of €15,000 for every night that more than 2,000 asylum seekers were staying in Ter Apel, for a maximum of 100 days.

It paid €1.5 million to the municipality after reaching the 100-day limit in mid-June, prompting another court case in which the daily penalty was raised to €50,000 and the ceiling to €5 million.

The COA has accepted that overcrowding at the facility affects the safety and sanitary conditions for residents, as well as adding to the strain on staff and local residents. But it says local and national governments have failed to take steps to improve the situation.

“We are calling on municipalities to extend the opening periods for locations that are closing and speed up the process of transferring settled refugees [statushouders] to regular accommodation, to give us more space in the short term,” board chairman Milo Schoenmaker said.