Overview
- Ter Apel again exceeded the 2,000-person limit, pushing daily fines of €50,000 toward the court‑set €5 million cap expected by week’s end.
- Asylum minister Bart van den Brink visited Ter Apel, pledging to avoid new courtroom clashes and to confer on next steps once the fine cap is reached.
- Hardenberg issued a ‘last onder dwangsom’ giving the COA roughly two weeks to close an azc and a Loozen site or face €70,000 and €11,000 per day respectively, with set maximums.
- COA leaders say they had no choice but to keep Hardenberg locations open, citing 103% national occupancy and upcoming losses like Biddinghuizen’s 1,200 winter beds closing in early April.
- Peel en Maas extended the Maasbree emergency site to October 2029 pending national permission, offering local relief but not resolving the nationwide capacity gap.