The two Dutch coalition parties on Thursday both went public with plans to deal with ‘problems’ caused by eastern Europeans: the VVD by clamping down on benefit claims, the Labour party by tackling housing issues.

The Dutch Labour party (PvdA) published an action plan titled ‘Decent Housing for Labour Migrants’, arguing they are ‘often housed in dreadful conditions for extortionate prices’.

The aim is to ensure decent housing for migrants and to make sure other people are not affected by overcrowding. As part of this, the party wants to limit the number of eastern Europeans who can share a property by ensuring each has at least 12 m2 of living space.

The action plan is signed by around 100 local Labour party leaders.

Noise and litter

The plan also envisages making sure eastern Europeans are spread throughout a town, rather than concentrated in one area and do not dominate village centres.

‘There is nothing wrong with having a Polish neighbour but there is something wrong with 15 Poles in an ordinary family house,’ Labour MP Mariette Hamer said.

‘This leads to noise nuisance, litter on the streets and arguments in the doorway. The people who live next door no longer feel at home and we have to help them.’

The party also wants to make a clear separation between employment and accommodation contracts so that employers are no longer also landlords. This leads to abuse and exploitation, the party says.

Benefits

Meanwhile, the VVD wants tougher measures to ensure eastern Europeans do not claim welfare and unemployment benefits.

Some 6,000 people from Poland, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria were claiming unemployment benefit (ww) in 2012, a rise of 250% in a year, the party says.

Some 3,400 eastern Europeans are also claiming welfare benefits, the party says.

Legislation

VVD MPs say social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher is not doing enough to encourage jobless eastern Europeans to return home and are now planning to draw up their own legislation.

‘It is fine to come here and get your hands dirty by working but you should hold out your hand for money in your own country,’ VVD parliamentarian Malik Azmani is quoted as saying by broadcaster Nos.

To qualify for ww benefits, you have to have worked for at least 26 of the previous 36 weeks. Jobless benefits are paid for between three and 38 months, depending on how long the claimant has worked.

New arrivals are not allowed to claim welfare (bijstand) benefits unless there are extremely pressing circumstances.