Immigrants 'not obliged' to integrate

“A judge has said that immigrants are not obliged to integrate in Dutch society,” announces Trouw on its front page. On Tuesday 16 August, the Administrative High Court of Utrecht, the highest ranked administrative court in the Netherlands, ruled that "Dutch integration policy was in breach of a European Union agreement." The newspaper explains that since the enactment of the 2007 law on integration, immigrants have been obliged to attend and pay for Dutch language and culture classes, and afterwards to sit an exam. In some cases, Turks who have not succeeded in passing the exam have been obliged to pay fines or have their residency applications refused.

The new ruling draws attention to the Ankara Agreement established between the EU and Turkey in 1963, which states that Turkish nationals — who are to be treated like nationals of EU states — should not be "impeded" by obligations of this kind. The newspaper reports that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now planning to circumvent the court decision by introducing "a basic schooling requirement," which stipulates that all of the Netherlands’ citizens and residents should have a minimum level of education and a knowledge of Dutch.