Netherlands' mandatory integration may be against EU rules

Today, the European Court of Justice will consider whether the Netherlands’ mandatory integration policy is against European rules. The central question of the case is whether the Netherlands can oblige refugees and other immigrants to integrate within three years and fine them if they don’t, Trouw reports.

In the Netherlands, people subject to integration obligations must integrate within three years. They have a lot of personal responsibility in this, having to find their own Dutch language courses and, until 2022, having to take out a personal loan to finance their integration. If they fail to get their integration certificate within three years, the government can fine them. Until recently, they also had to repay their study loans of up to 10,000 euros.

EU law states that the responsibility to integrate does not lie so much with the immigrant but mainly with the Member States. The government must provide access to integration programs. The court will decide whether the Netherlands’ fine system fits these rules.

According to human rights lawyer Eva Bezem, slow integration is often not due to reluctance to join Dutch society. Her own client, a refugee from Eritrea, is dealing with severe trauma and a mild intellectual disability. Partly because of this, he could not integrate in time and now has 10,000 euros in debt to repay, plus a fine of 500 euros.

“Compare that with a Dutch child who struggles at school,” Bezem said. “They help you in every possible way to complete primary and secondary school. We would never impose a fine on them if they do not pass the exams.”

In recent years, the Dutch government imposed fines on 3,400 refugees who took more than three years to integrate. The maximum fine is 1,250. The real problem is having to repay the study loans taken out to pay for their integration courses. According to the government agency DUO, refugees together still have to pay around 27 million euros in loans and 2.3 million euros in fines. DUO stressed that payment plans are made according to their ability.

If the European Court of Justice rules that the Dutch method is contrary to European law, the Netherlands will likely have to cancel those debts.

That has happened in some previous cases. One immigrant ended up deeply in debt after his course provider went bankrupt, causing him integration delays. Another completed their integration on time but only received their certificate after the three-year period due to slow bureaucracy. In both cases, the judge ordered the government to cancel the debts.

Bezem expects a similar ruling from the European court. The Dutch policy is “completely disproportionate,” she said. “In the current way, we are deliberately pushing the weakest in society into the financial abyss.”

The European Court of Justice will rule in a few months. Until then, DUO is pausing its fine policy - no fines or loans will be collected.