DAR AL HARB - NETHERLANDS: A NATURALIZATION PLEDGE WITH ZERO LEGAL IMPLICATIONS (AIMED @ MOSLEMS OF COURSE THAT REGARD ALLAH'S LAW AS SUPREME)

Naturalisation Pledge without Legal Implications

THE HAGUE, 01/02/08 - A substantial Lower House majority is supporting a proposed bill to establish that immigrants who acquire Dutch citizenship must sign a statement of solidarity during a ceremony. The statement will however have no legal implications.

According to Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin, the signature is more than a formality. The ceremony must demonstrate that naturalisation is not just a matter of a passport being issued. He does acknowledge, along with a House majority, that the statement will primarily have a symbolic value.

Precisely because there will be no legal implications, Party for Freedom (PVV) MP Sietse Fritsma considers the statement a "huge load of nonsense." The conservatives (VVD) also made this criticism. Fritsma will vote against the proposal; whether the VVD will also do so is not yet clear.

In the naturalisation statement, the text of which still has to be established, foreigners must promise to respect the Dutch legal system and freedoms, as well as their rights and obligations as citizen. VVD MP Henk Kamp considers that people who subsequently commit a very serious crime will be breaking their promise to respect the Dutch laws and should in that case lose their Dutch citizenship.

Fritsma wants aliens to sign an "assimilation contract" on arrival in the Netherlands. This should state among other things that they cannot make a call on social security benefits in the first 10 years, and also cannot naturalise in this period.

Hirsch Ballin however said Dutch citizenship can only be removed from someone if they fundamentally turn against the Dutch society and try to undermine it. They must also not then become stateless.



Pertinent Links:

1) Naturalisation Pledge without Legal Implications