The European Commission will contact Belgium's Federal Government about State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor's announcement that single men will temporarily no longer receive shelter in the Fedasil network.
De Moor announced on Tuesday that Belgium would temporarily stop providing single men who are applying for asylum in the country with shelter, despite it being a legal entitlement. The announcement was immediately met with heavy criticism.
"From what we understand, it only concerns announcements at the moment, which are still being discussed within the Federal Government. We have to see what exactly is happening," spokesperson Anitta Hipper said during the Commission's daily press briefing on Thursday. "The Commission will contact the Belgian authorities in this regard."
'Challenging situation'
She pointed out that European law obliges EU Member States to provide "appropriate" reception "in dignified conditions" for people who have applied for asylum on their territory. In practice, this means that opting not to provide shelter to single men, as De Moor announced, would be breaking the law.
Belgium's State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor. Credit: Belga / Jonas Roosen
However, Hipper underlined that the Commission is aware of the "challenging situation" regarding the reception capacity for asylum seekers and will continue to support the Belgian authorities in addressing the problems, including through the experts of the European Asylum Agency EUAA.
De Moor argued that the decision for the temporary reception stop for single men was made to reserve all available places for families with children. Yet last autumn, families with (very young) children and unaccompanied minors were not given a sheltered place due to the reported lack of places for shelter either. Instead, they, too, were forced onto the streets.
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Belgium and Fedasil have been convicted on numerous counts by Brussels, Belgian and European courts for failing to provide shelter. However, the Federal Government repeatedly ignored these convictions, failing to pay the fines or provide the shelter that was called for.
On Tuesday, De Moor explained that the decision was made in anticipation of "the rising influx of families and children" – in recent days, the arrival numbers for these groups have reportedly soared – to "absolutely avoid children ending up on the streets in winter."
The decision resulted in harsh criticism from local, regional and federal ministers and politicians, as well as numerous lawyers and NGOs, and has even led to the Refugee Work Flanders organisation (Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen) withdrawing as an emergency shelter partner.
