Governments support, coordinate and offer tools. But who is responsible for the reception of refugees from Ukraine, Hans Nijenhuis asks in this comment.
Minister De Jonge said a true thing in this newspaper on Saturday† “When solving the housing shortage, we partly run into the same problem as when tackling the corona crisis: there is a lack of central control. We have believed for too long that the sum of all municipal decisions to build houses would automatically solve the nation’s need for sufficiently affordable houses.”
De Jonge should know. During the corona crisis, he wanted to stop visiting nursing homes – it turned out that his authority was not at all. As Minister of Health, he was also unable to manage the GGDs: they fell under the security regions. How they came about is a long story, but you can’t go to the polls for it.
No misunderstanding, the Dutch can be satisfied with their government† What goes wrong makes the news, but often there is a nice new bicycle path, there is a good hospital, a diseased tree is replaced. And all in consultation. In which the responsibility is placed ‘as close as possible to the citizen’.
However, in times of crisis, more is really needed. We no longer believe that ‘the sum of all decisions by municipalities about wind turbines and solar panels is automatically the solution for the national need’ to tackle the climate crisis. What will our Dutch way of decision-making mean in the reception of refugees from Ukraine?
Governments consult, support and coordinate, offer tools and share responsibility
No misunderstanding again, we work hard. National crisis, after all. Governments consult, support and coordinate, offer tools and share responsibility. But who is responsible now? Who is the Erik ten Hag of the shelter?
The ‘Guide to Municipal Reception of Ukrainians’, published on Sunday, puts it this way: ‘The national information and coordination of the security regions takes place in the KCIO (Knooppunt Coordination and Information Ukraine). The KCIO thus forms the link between central government and the region. The Council of Commanders and Directors of the Security Region (RCDV) and the Security Council (VB) ensure substantive and administrative coordination with the national crisis structure and other (central) parties such as DG Migration of the Ministry of Justice and Security.’ Understood?
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