The Netherlands:Victory for Geert Wilders...Migrants to fend for themselves

Policies targeting ethnic minorities are to be a thing of the past in the Netherlands. In the future, every migrant will have to take responsibility for his or her own integration, Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner has said in a letter to the parliament, everybody should embrace Dutch values.

The opposition is calling this change of direction by government “a historic error”. The Labour Party and democrat party D66 fear that people will fall by the wayside if various immigrant groups are not targeted.

Labour Party MP Martijn van Dam points out the specific problems there are with Moroccan boys who score higher than average when it comes to unsocial or criminal behaviour.

“I cannot imagine that the other parties would want these problems to be neglected.”

But Minister Donner wants to put an end to policies for target groups. No more special treatment for Antilleans, Turks, Moroccans and other minorities. This cabinet thinks it’s up to migrants themselves to become useful members of society. Mr Donner,

“We think it’s the responsibility of the people themselves. We shouldn’t continue with policies aimed at specific target groups and subsidise all kinds of measures, because that way you actually maintain these groups.”
[link to www.rnw.nl]