The federal government wants to encourage municipalities to create reception places for asylum seekers. A bonus of up to 3,500 euros is planned. Too low an amount according to two mayors we interviewed.
All municipalities in Belgium have received a letter. There is talk of a bonus for the creation of new reception places for asylum seekers. A single amount between 2,000 to 3,500 euros per accommodation created.
The letter sent last week is signed by Nicole de Moor, the Secretary of State in charge of the file. “I chose this voluntary system where municipalities are asked to open places on a voluntary basis. We try to help them with some incentive. Because opening places is difficult for municipalities too“, explains Nicole De Moor (CD&V, Flemish Christian Democrats).
That’s not going to help us say yes
What do the main stakeholders think? We interviewed the future mayor of Saint-Gilles, from the Socialist Party. He will be sworn in in 11 days. We also met the mayor of Etterbeek, a member of the Reform Movement.
“It is not because we are going to receive 3,000 euros once, a year, that it will push us to do it. Because already when we are 100% funded, which is not the case, we have a structural deficit that is created, actually for us this is not what will help us to say yes“, reacts Vincent De Wolf, mayor of Etterbeek.
“She (the Secretary of State) comes with pre-incentives and coercive measures. But I remind you that Fédasil (Editor’s note: Federal agency for the reception of asylum seekers) and the minister in charge have a responsibility to develop places. Why were the spaces that had been developed removed? These have been dismantled to save money“, explains for his part Jean Spinette, alderman and future mayor of Saint-Gilles.
The constraint in sight
Nothing says that this bonus will push the municipalities to open new places. Nothing says that these 3,000 euros will solve the crisis of asylum seekers. In the letter from the Secretary of State, she already mentioned the possibility of making the creation of accommodation in the municipalities compulsory.