The number of asylum seekers in Ter Apel may no longer exceed the maximum of 2,000. The municipality of Westerwolde, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) and the Ministry of Justice and Security have agreed on this after discussions with the National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen.
This should ensure that asylum seekers no longer have to sleep outside the application centre, as they did last summer. Van Zutphen has been asked to mediate between the three parties. Van Zutphen writes to the Westerwolde city council that emergency measures will be taken in the short term to prevent exceeding the maximum occupancy, reports RTV Noord.
Ter Apel spared
Last week it was already known that thousands of extra shelters are needed. State Secretary Van der Burg (Justice) already said that Ter Apel would be spared in the event of an excessive asylum flow: “If things go wrong again, the reception will no longer be arranged in Ter Apel”.
