The new Dutch right-wing government is to end roughly €30 million of funding for accommodation for asylum seekers who have had their residency applications rejected.
Shelters for failed applicants are located in the five largest cities – Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Eindhoven. All are expected to close when funding is withdrawn from January 1st.
Immigration minister Marjolein Faber announced the end of what has become known as “bed-and-board” assistance first introduced in 2018.
“The reality is that these are people whose applications have already been turned down and who should have left a long time ago”, said Ms Faber, a member of Geert Wilders’s far-right Freedom Party, the largest member of the coalition that took office in July.
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Ms Faber’s appointment as immigration minister was greeted with surprise because of her apparent support for “replacement theory”, a conspiracy scenario that claims that a leftist “elite” aims to engineer the replacement of the white population with non-western immigrants.
She was forced to renounce her use of the term in social media posts and speeches in order to have her appointment ratified by parliament.
Currently, refugees whose asylum applications fail are evicted from official refugee centres and are expected to return home.
Those who have been using the shelters that will now close have been allowed to do so on the basis that they are “working towards” a return to their countries of origin.
The only other options are emergency accommodation run by churches or charities, finding a squat or sleeping rough.
Ms Faber acknowledged last month, weeks after taking office, that the official position of the new government was that the shortage of accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers constituted “a crisis”.
Responding to a decision by Utrecht city to close its reception centre for Ukrainians, the minister said: “Yes, we see from the figures that Utrecht cannot cope with the influx of Ukrainians. Every place is full. In short, the Netherlands has a refugee crisis.”
The coalition agreement includes the possibility of drawing up domestic legislation allowing it unilaterally to stop accepting asylum seekers on a temporary basis.
However, that would set it on an immediate collision course with the EU.
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