NETHERLANDS: REMOVING A 'HARD-LINE' IMMIGRATION MINISTER

NETHERLANDS: IMMIGRATION MINISTER TO BE SHIFTED OVER ROW

Paris, 14 Dec. (AKI) - Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende was on Thursday due to inform the parliament of the outgoing cabinet's decision late on Wednesday to swap hardline immigration minister Rita Verdonk with justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin, Dutch national television NOS reported. The move followed a stand-off between parliament and the caretaker government after Verdonk refused to freeze planned deportations of many thousands of illegal immigrants and rejected a resulting no-confidence vote.

The shifting of Verdonk, known as 'Iron Rita' , who sparked an immigration row that led to the collapse of the government in June, comes amid fraught negotiations to form a new government after last month's general election failed to produce a ruling majority for either a centre-left or centre-right government. Balkenende's Christian Democrat (CDA) party won most seats in the elections.

It is highly unusual for parliament to dismiss an outgoing minister. Normally a parliamentary censure would lead to Verdonk's immediate resignation but Verkdonk's libertarian VVD party, the junior partner in the caretaker government threatened that all its ministers would resign if she were forced to quit - throwing the government into disarray.

Verdonk's 2004 decision to deport 26,000 rejected asylum seekers over a three-year period has been a pillar of government policy. Under the Netherlands constitition, caretake governments are not supposed to make major policy changes.

However, the new left-leaning majority that emerged after the elections in November, advocating an pardon for the failed asylum seekers who have been living in the Netherlands since their applications were rejected in 2001.

Verdonk has traditionally championed tough immigration policies and remains a divisive figure in Dutch politics for introducing hardline measures, such as the proposed ban on wearing a face-covering veil, as well as mandatory citizenship test for immigrants and test for immigrants and detention of asylum-seekers while their application is processed.

Most of the Nethlands one million Muslims are originally from Turkey and North Africa or are descended from immigrants from these countries.


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1) NETHERLANDS: IMMIGRATION MINISTER TO BE SHIFTED OVER ROW