Spotlight: The Netherlands struggles to cope with high influx of immigrants

With hundreds of refugees reaching the Netherlands every day, the small country in western Europe is grappling with the unprecedented influx of people that has thrown Europe into a deepening crisis.

Compared to those registered in front-line countries, the number of new arrivals in the low lands remains fewer. But for a country, whose area is only about one ninth of that of Germany, the soaring influx meant the same degree of pressure for immigration services and the issue has provoked a heated political debate.

STRUGGLING TO RECEIVE, REGISTER

"The number of asylum seekers waiting to enter the application procedure has seen a steep increase over the past weeks," Jacqueline Engbers, spokesperson at the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) in Ter Apel told Xinhua.

Until a few months ago, she was used to seeing only around 350 immigrants arriving every week at Ter Apel, where all asylum seekers coming to the Netherlands must first report. The waiting time for application procedures was around four weeks.

Since May the situation has changed completely. Waiting time is now more than three months, while last week an unprecedented number of 3,100 migrants arrived in the country. Currently, around 700 refugees arrive in the Netherlands every day.

Nowadays, immigrants have to be distributed among the other 69 Dutch reception centers or temporary shelters and come back to Ter Apel later to enter into the application procedure.

But with 33,598 occupants already so far, the reception centers are expected to reach full capacity this month. To cope with the high influx of hundreds of new arrivals per day, the Netherlands would have to open one reception location per day, estimated immigration experts. An additional 10,000 childcare places are required by the end of the year.

Municipalities are urged to help. On Thursday evening, more than 2,000 temporary beds were made available as municipalities, including Rotterdam and Roosendaal, responded to the government's request.

However, some cities complained that they have no buildings immediately available while local organizations warned of adverse reactions by locals.

It is not surprising that the authorities are considering the possibility of providing financial support to people with asylum permit to arrange their own accommodation. The measure is expected to be implemented soon, according to Jan Willem Anholts, COA's national spokesperson.

Refugees must register to apply for asylum status. "The pressure to register asylum seekers is currently very high," Janet Takens, spokesperson at the Ministry of Security and Justice told Xinhua. "The Integration and Naturalization Service (IND), COA and the police are working hard to keep up."

Apart from the current center in Ter Apel, three new application centers are scheduled to open in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Budel. One more might soon be available in the east of the country.

COST AND DEBATE

All these efforts will cost the Netherlands more than 1 billion euros (1.14 billion U.S. dollars) this year as stated in the government's budget presented Tuesday.

For 2016, 551 million euros have been allocated for the reception of asylum seekers, but the total cost has not yet been finalized as it is still unclear how many people fleeing war will end up in the country.

Under the EU quota system, the Netherlands is expected to take in some 9,000 asylum seekers. The Dutch government says it is only willing to take in more if all EU states agree and only as a "temporary solution." In the long term, the Dutch government wants better shelters for refugees near conflict zones and will donate 110 million euros this year to improve capacity in and near Syria.

A heated political debate exposes deep divisions over how the Netherlands should respond to the crisis. Far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose party is the most popular in opinion polls, maintained his usual stance, calling the wave of refugees pushing into Europe an "Islamic invasion." He also argued that the plan changes nothing as the borders remain wide open.

In a similar tone, Christian Democrat CDA leader Sybrand Buma argued that such a plan cannot be implemented with open borders.

Alexander Pechtold, leader of the progressive opposition party D66, called the proposal unworkable as the Convention on Human Rights does not allow for the forced return of refugees. Adopting a more pragmatic stance, he called on the Dutch government to accept the Commission's quota plan in a decent way.

Following a similar approach, Jesse Klaver of the opposition GroenLinks called for an unconditional acceptance of the Commission's allocation plan and argued that under the Dutch long-term plan, refugees would return back to war.

"The long-term plan looks rather exceptional and violates fundamental EU treaties as well as international human rights treaties," commented Han Entzinger, professor of migration and integration studies at Rotterdam's Erasmus University, in an interview with Xinhua.

When addressing the refugee crisis, Dutch King Willem-Alexander called for "an active response" with "a comprehensive approach which takes account of all the relevant factors."

"It should include international conflict management, reception in the region, combating people smuggling, a strict but fair asylum procedure in every country, effective policy on return, and giving those unable to return opportunities to integrate," said the Dutch king in his annual Speech of the Throne.

"This is the only way to properly address both the humanitarian aspect of the crisis and the need for public support in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe," added the Dutch king.

Earlier last week, the Netherlands announced extra border controls as "a method to quickly check whether the flood of refugees is moving towards the Netherlands."

"If that is the case, we will consider whether or not additional measures should be taken," announced the Dutch State Secretary for Security and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff. Endit