NETHERLANDS: MINISTER DOWNPLAYS 'FUSS' OVER MUSLIM CABINET MEMBERS' NATIONALITY
The new Dutch justice minister, Ernst Hrisch Ballin, has played down a reported row in the Netherlands over the dual nationality of the country's first Muslims cabinet ministers. The man, Nehabat Albayrak and Ahmed Aboutaleb, who are both Dutch passport holders also have Turkish and Morocacan passports respectively. "All my colleagues in the government are Dutch," Ballin said on Dutch television, adding that calls for an end to dual nationality - such as have been made by rightwing opposition parties - are redundant. Ballin added he was "extremely displeased" at the "unpleasant tone" of comments made by members of rightwing anti-immigration hardliner Geert Wilders' opposition Party for Freedom (PVV). In the Dutch parliament last week they criticised the dual nationality of Albayrak and Aboutaleb, saying they should have been required to choose Dutch nationality.
Albayrak and Abolutaleb are the new Dutch cabinet's secretary for social affairs and state secretary for justice, respectively. Both men are members of the Labour PvdA party, and Aboutaleb is credited with helping immigrants find jobs as well as pushing for more immigration.Right-wingers in the Netherlands want to see an end to dual nationality.
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