Secretary of State Francken wants European emergency fund for asylum intake

According to Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken, the limit of our capacity to take in refugees has gradually been reached. If the fair distribution throughout the various European Member States remains unfeasible, he wants Belgium to be able to receive financial support through a European emergency aid fund. In anticipation of this, the number of registered asylum seekers will remain limited to 250 per day. “Any more than that would be unsustainable and irresponsible,” states the N-VA leader.

Francken noted that “only a handful of Western European countries are currently processing the largest share of all asylum applications. Other European countries, such as Spain and Portugal, Poland and the Czech Republic, are always the first to demand solidarity, but are barely taking in any refugees at the moment. The EU Member States must show more mutual solidarity, otherwise, this is the end of it.”

“The current situation cannot go on, and definitely not for the Belgian budget,” warns the Secretary of State, who feels confronted with a humanitarian operation without mutual support. “The number of places for refugees has been expanded from 16,000 to 28,000 in just a few weeks’ time. So many places created in such a short span of time has never been done before.”

Limit: 250 per day
Despite the growing lines at the Immigration Service (DVZ) and recent requests in this regard, Francken is not prepared to register more than 250 refugees per day. “Otherwise, the quality of the asylum procedure will come under threat. The registration, identification, taking of fingerprints: all of this must be done properly. Moreover, we’re already processing around 4,000 to 5,000 registrations per month. If you look at this on an annual basis, that is 50% more than we’ve ever seen before. And these numbers are completely unrealistic when you know that some European countries only take in about 50 to 60 asylum applications per month. We’re getting 250 per day!”

In addition to this, Fedasil, the agency responsible for providing the actual accommodations, must be able to keep up and provide accommodations in time. “What we do in our asylum procedure is give preference to families with children and the most vulnerable asylum seekers, like the ill and older people,” emphasises Francken to conclude.