At the end of the two-day annual conference of the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), around three thousand municipal administrators, councilors and civil servants will consider “a staggering number of motions”, such as VNG, in a huge greenhouse complex (with air conditioning) in Hazerswoude-Dorp. chairman Sharon Dijksma (53) mentions it. After her closing speech on Wednesday, the representatives of the 342 Dutch municipalities under her leadership will vote electronically.
The municipality of Wijk bij Duurstede wants the VNG to invite all MPs and ministers from The Hague to executive and council meetings “in which difficult decisions are made, so that they can contribute, participate in decision-making and share responsibility.” The motion was adopted with 84.12 percent of the votes. Zaanstad is putting a motion to the vote to draw the cabinet’s attention to the obligation to compensate expenditure by decentralized authorities. 99.34 percent of those present voted in favor.
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VNG is concerned about asylum and migration proposals
Earlier in the day, Dijksma argued for “political imagination” at the conference in this new era. The mayor of Utrecht sees this in The Hague “less and less and that hurts a bit.” In an interview after the annual meeting, Dijksma says that “working together on a vision for the future of the Netherlands has become increasingly complicated due to fragmentation and polarization. There must be a shared value about what we are good at and where we are heading. I really miss a political conversation about what unites us instead of what divides us.”
Dijksma says that municipalities in the Netherlands are “working hard every day” to find solutions to issues such as the corona crisis, the reception of refugees from Ukraine, the energy crisis, the reception crisis in Ter Apel and the polarization around Israel and Gaza. “National issues, but the solutions do not come from The Hague. This will be no different in the coming years because The Hague cannot do without the municipalities.”
According to Dijksma, the VNG will try to exert “maximum influence” on the implementation of the new government’s main agreement. “We should not only be talked about, but with us. Because the municipalities decide. Only when we put our shoulders to the wheel will something happen.”
‘A stone in the stomach’
The annual conference also adopted a motion by a large majority on the role of municipalities in asylum and migration policy. Dijksma: “We lobbied hard for the distribution law [die de verdeling van asielzoekers over gemeenten regelt]. It is a shame for all municipalities that this will not happen now. It is already completely full in Ter Apel and expectations are very bad.”
“We say to the cabinet: first make sure that we are able to accommodate the people who are already here properly, if you no longer want that law. Get the house in order first. I don’t know whether the new asylum minister Marjolein Faber plans to call mayors every day to arrange emergency emergency shelter, but of course you can already see the chaos coming your way. Those people don’t wait in the lawn. They go wandering, especially in cities like my Utrecht. With all the problems that come with it. The unrest about this file will only increase with this policy.”
A day before the annual conference, Amsterdam councilor Rutger Groot Wassink (GroenLinks) announced that he is resigning from the VNG main board and will immediately stop as chairman of the VNG asylum committee. It is a protest against “the extreme right-wing party PVV that poses a threat to the rule of law.” He also said he would not answer telephone calls from Minister Faber. He took back that last statement on Thursday.
I really miss a political conversation about what unites us
Dijksma calls the Amsterdam councilor’s announcement mainly a “media buzz” and not something that really concerns municipal administrators. She says she “respects” Groot Wassink’s decision. Personally, she prefers a different attitude towards the new government. “I will answer the phone and if necessary, I will contradict you. Someone has to do that too. It cannot be the case that the VNG does not enter into discussions with the central government.”
It is a view that Dijksma said he “predominantly encountered” among the delegates. “Ultimately, we are expected to step forward and enter into discussions. And also that we draw a very firm line if it is necessary for financial reasons or if the rule of law is at stake.”
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