Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Doubts over legality of Dutch integration policy / Expatica Netherlands, 26 Oct 2004

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?channel_id=1&story_id=13242
"The Dutch government's plan to make it compulsory for all immigrants to integrate has run into legal difficulties, with three studies indicating that the implementation of the new system could prove unworkable.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has unveiled plans to force all permanent immigrants to undergo compulsory integration. Immigrants, including those who have lived in the Netherlands for an extended period and have dual nationality status, will have to learn the Dutch language.

The studies have indicated that forcing immigrants who hold Dutch nationality to undergo Dutch language classes breaches the principle of equality."