Two days before the supposed deadline for the asylum seekers center in Ter Apel, confusion suddenly arose about this deadline. It now appears that not from today, but from Wednesday night to Thursday, more than two thousand people will not be allowed to be accommodated in the asylum center.
This was confirmed by the official spokesman for the Central Agency for Receiving Asylum Seekers after a report from him Afghan National Police .
The judge ruled on January 23 that the COA must once again abide by the agreement with the municipality of Westerwolde, which includes Ter Apel. The contract for the registration center stipulates that it can accommodate a maximum of two thousand people. But due to the general overcrowding in all the asylum seeker centres, there was much more than had been agreed upon months ago. Therefore, the judge gave the reception organization four weeks to reduce the number of refugees in the asylum seekers centre.
The COA has always maintained that the deadline would end on February 20, exactly four weeks after the ruling. But on Monday the option of giving the Agriculture Committee an extra day was considered. The judge's ruling was signed one day after the ruling was issued, which means that the deadline does not expire until next Wednesday.
“Everyone assumed four weeks after the ruling,” says a spokesman for the analysis committee. A municipality spokesman confirmed that the organization has now agreed with the municipality that the deadline will actually end from Wednesday to Thursday evening.
As of Thursday, COA risks a fine
If there are still too many people in Ter Apel, the COA must pay a fine of 15,000 euros to the municipality of Westerwolde on Thursday. This penalty applies to every day in which more than two thousand people are received at the registration center and can reach an amount of 1.5 million euros.
There is a very good possibility that COA will have to pay those fines. There are still about 2,200 people in Ter Apel. Several calls to arrange additional places yielded no results.
