According to the COA, the municipality of Tubbergen had known since June that there would be a “real possibility” that the central government would enforce an asylum seekers’ center in the municipality. This is what the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) writes in the summons for summary proceedings against the owner of hotel ‘t Elshuys in the village of Albergen, where the asylum seekers’ center is to be located. The owner wants to get rid of the sale and the COA institutes summary proceedings against her. The hearing is Monday.
On August 16, the municipality was said to be “unpleasantly surprised” when State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum, VVD) announced that ‘t Elshuys would become an asylum seekers’ center for 150 to 200 people. Another 100 people will be accommodated in units around the hotel.
Immediately after that announcement, residents of Albergen protested for days. Sunday there was a silent tour. In the meantime, the owner of the hotel approached COA with the question whether she could still get rid of the sale. On Monday, the COA received a letter: the owner invokes the nullity of the purchase contract on the grounds of ‘fraud’ and ‘misguidance’.
If she had known that 300 asylum seekers would come to live in the hotel, her lawyer wrote in the letter, she would never have signed the purchase contract. On the contrary, COA states „transparent from day one [te zijn] about the target number of asylum seekers.
1.5 million euros
In April, the COA was approached by a broker about the hotel, which had been for sale for three years. Shortly afterwards, two COA employees were given a tour. The purchase contract was signed at the beginning of August: COA pays 1.48 million euros for the hotel and the land. The sale would become final on August 29.
If the owner does not cooperate with the sale, the COA demands a penalty of 150,000 euros. That amount could be paid. Local residents previously indicated in the media that they wanted to buy the hotel, in order to prevent the arrival of the asylum seekers’ center.
Also read this report about the hotel in Albergen: ‘People are afraid’, Syrian refugees hear.
In April, COA also approached the municipality with the question whether it could agree to receive 50 status holders and 150 asylum seekers. According to the COA, the alderman confirmed on June 21 that the municipality “did not wish to cooperate in the reception or housing of asylum seekers”, the summons states. COA then indicated that there was a real chance that the central government would deploy the ‘spatial planning instruments’, it writes. This gives the central government the opportunity to bypass the municipality in these kinds of decisions. Tubbergen is the first municipality where the State Secretary uses the instrument for the arrival of an asylum seekers’ center.
“In short, we had no contact with COA on June 21,” says the municipality in a response. On 10 June, however, ‘official feedback’ did take place. The municipality was aware of the possible application of coercion “due to national developments”. “But until August 16, the municipality assumed that the COA was no longer interested in the hotel,” said a spokesperson. Other investors had come forward. They wanted to turn the hotel into a residential-care combination.
According to alderman Ursula Bekhuis, Van der Burg’s announcement came “like a bolt from the blue”, she said in a press conference in mid-August. According to her, the COA was “disappointed” after the municipality’s rejection. And she assumed, she said, “that the shelter would be arranged in another municipality.”
Also read this article: Ter Apel: sleeping outside and a dead baby
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of August 27, 2022
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