25 September 2006

Two Dutch ministers resign

Netherlands - Trouw
Two Dutch ministers are obliged to resign

The Dutch ministers of Justice and Housing, Piet Donner and Sybilla Dekker, resigned on Thursday, September 21st, having been held responsible for the deaths of eleven illegal immigrants in October 2005 during the fire in the retention centre of the Amsterdam-Shiphol airport.

"The results of the commission's independent enquiry were so harsh that the two ministers could only draw one conclusion: resignation", explains the daily.

"The report notably judges that there would have been fewer victims, if any at all, were security to have retained the attention of the authorities concerned.

The report evokes the image of a government that makes a big fuss about the expulsion of undesirable foreigners, though taking fewer and fewer precautions in conducting these expulsions.

This sad affair also shows how policy regarding foreigners has been carried out over these past years". (22/09/2006)

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The Netherlands' negative migratory balance

"The Central Statistics Office last week revealed that the Netherlands have Europe's largest immigration deficit," deplores a leading article in the daily paper.

"In the first half of the year the country lost 63,000 people ... It is worrying news.

The Netherlands plainly have no appeal.










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