This is what State Secretary Van der Burgh said after the cabinet meeting about the reception problem caused by the large influx from Ukraine. The emergency law means that mayors are more compelled to accept refugees into their municipality. “This is no longer a question you can refuse,” says van der Burgh. But we will formally hand it over to the mayors as an assignment.”
If the municipalities continue to refuse to arrange the reception of Ukrainians, “they will be held accountable for this,” the foreign minister said. “What is being done now on a voluntary basis will soon become a legal task for mayors. And so they are responsible for it.”
another law
The emergency right will be ratified by the King on Friday, from that moment on the ball is in the mayors’ court. This does not mean that they can claim the premises for the arrangement of reception places, because a different law is required. But the activation of the emergency law is a prelude to more coercion.
Van der Burg also declared that the Netherlands would not encourage aid organizations to collect refugees from Ukraine’s border regions and bring them here. The Netherlands is already moving patients who have to go to hospital from those regions. This relates to a maximum of 30 people per day and 400 people in total, given the capacity of the hospital.
