Far-right in charge of “inburgering” as well as immigration

Responsibility for the integration of new arrivals into the Netherlands through the inburgering programme will be switched from the social affairs to the justice ministry when the new right wing government takes office.

Junior justice minister Ingrid Coenradie, who represents the far right PVV in the new administration will be in charge of the process, she told reporters after her meeting with coalition negotiator Richard van Zwol and next prime minister Dick Schoof on Wednesday.

Coendradie, currently a Rotterdam councillor on behalf of Leebaar Rotterdam, will also be in charge of prisons, “public decency” and crisis control. Asylum and migration are being moved to a new ministry which will be headed by the PVV’s controversial former senate leader Marjolein Faber.

Coenradie’s role as head of integration would appear to be at odds with the appointment of a new junior minister for participation and integration at the social affairs ministry. That job will be done by the VVD’s Jurgen Nobel but as yet it is unclear what it will entail.

The Dutch approach to the integration of its foreign residents has become tougher over the years and the new government has pledged to get tougher still.

For example, it plans to extend the residency requirement to become Dutch from five to 10 years, increase the language requirement to B1 and require people becoming Dutch to give up their original nationality if legally possible.

The new cabinet also wants to make “knowledge of the Holocaust and its victims” part of the integration course, even though it is already included.