The Council of Ministers approves the reduction plan for reception places for applicants for international protection
The government approved on 24 March 2018 a new reduction plan for reception places for applicants for international protection. Today the reception network consists of 23,815 reception places. This should be reduced to 16,629 reception places in 2019, of which 10,044 collective places and 6,585 individual reception places. With this plan, the network returns to the level preceding the reception crisis.
Smart reduction of reception places according to the needs of the new reception model
State Secretary of Asylum Policy and Migration, Theo Francken stated on 24 March 2018: "The asylum influx is stable at a low level, which leaves room for further reduction of reception places and cost savings. We also use this operation to correct the ratio between individual and collective reception places, which was out of balance due to the asylum crisis. More individual reception places will be phased out than reception places in the collective centers, to achieve a 60 - 40 ratio. This is necessary, because individual reception is only available for applicants for international protection with a high chance of recognition and for vulnerable profiles, and only after an observation phase of several months in a collective reception center. "
Voluntary closure of Local Reception Initiatives
In 2018, 2,854 collective reception places and 3,600 individual reception places will be closed. Which reception centers are going to close, will be determined in the next few days. With regard to the individual reception places organized by the municipal Public Centres for Social Welfare (Local Reception Initiatives), a voluntary reduction is envisaged. Only if the target of 3,600 is not reached via spontaneous closures, the federal level will decide which Local Reception Initiatives will have to close down.
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