The Dutch immigration service ordered 230 European nationals to leave the Netherlands last year, up from 150 in 2010, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.

Those facing deportation were involved in skimming – stealing bank card information – shoplifting and pick-pocketing, the paper said. Most were Polish, Romanian and Lithuanian.
EU nationals are allowed to live in other European countries as long as they can take care of themselves financially. However, they can be ruled ‘undesirable’ if they form ‘an actual threat’ to public order, the paper says.
Petty convictions
Immigration minister Gerd Leers said last year he would order EU nationals with a string of petty convictions to their name to leave the country. This has already had an effect on the crime rate in the centre of Amsterdam, the paper says.
This year, Leers said he plans to deport foreigners who have lived less than three years in the Netherlands if they are sentenced to at least one day in jail.
This will also apply to EU citizens, although their personal circumstances will be taken into account, an immigration service spokesman told the paper.