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Asylum plan will maintain unequal distribution of refugees

9 November 2022

Asylum plan will maintain unequal distribution of refugees

Foto: SP

'The cabinet's new asylum law is not going to solve the unequal distribution of asylum seekers between rich and poor municipalities,' said SP MP Jasper van Dijk. The poorest 25 per cent of municipalities are already hosting 11,000 refugees this year, while the richest 25 per cent are hosting only 3,300. This inequality is not going to decrease.

Van Dijk: 'The proposal to give municipalities money for receiving refugees amounts to bribery and turns asylum seekers into cash cows. There is a good chance that the poor municipalities will respond because they have fewer resources. The unequal distribution will only increase. The north of the Netherlands takes in the most refugees. Wassenaar and Bloemendaal are getting away with it.'

Van Dijk does not agree with the way the asylum bill came about: 'The dithering of the VVD was embarrassing and the commitment to look at limiting the influx seems an empty shell. Unless the government will also consider regulating labour migration, but that is not going to happen. Meanwhile, because of cabinet fiddling, children in Ter Apel are without beds, toothbrushes or showers, small communities are facing large-scale accommodation and municipalities do not know where they stand.'

Earlier this year, the SP presented a plan for a fairer distribution of refugees.

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