Thousands ignore integration tests, MPs call for tough action

Just 6,000 of the new arrivals to the Netherlands between 2013 and 2015 have passed a civic integration test even though 53,000 are supposed to do so, social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher has told parliament. ‘Fewer than half the people who should have passed a test by the first quarter of this year have done so,’ Asscher said. ‘They should be totally immersed in our values and our successes.’ D66 parliamentarian Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said the current system is a ‘bureaucratic jungle’ which asks too much of people’s own resources. Otherwise they will end up on welfare benefits.’ Pay your way The ‘inburgering’ system was shaken up in 2013 and experts say one reason so many are ignoring the process is that people now have to pay for the courses and the exams themselves.