THE NETHERLANDS: Dutch MPs passed a controversial law last night allowing for the mass expulsion of 26,000 failed asylum-seekers from the country.
The parliament in The Hague rejected motions to soften plans by the Christian Democrat-led government and approved the policy by 83 votes to 57.
The unprecedented move was a blow to the Netherlands' reputation for tolerance and set a tough benchmark for Europe's asylum policies.
Asylum and immigration have been hotly debated across the continent in recent years, with centrist parties from Austria to Denmark following an agenda set further to the right. The legislation, opposed by large sections of the population and international human rights groups, will force the 26,000 asylum-seekers affected to return to their countries of origin within three years.
Mass hunger strikes and demonstrations - quietly encouraged by social workers - have been threatened in response to the vote. One Iranian asylum-seeker has sewn up his eyes and mouth in protest. The potential deportees include Somalis, Afghans, and Chechens who may be sent back to countries without a functioning government and still affected by violence.
But the government has insisted that those genuinely at risk would not be forced to leave.
Human Rights Watch has criticised the measure as a "deportation law violating international standards" but Ms Rita Verdonk, the Minister for Immigration and Integration, has called the policy "very good, very humane".
The law will affect people who arrived in the country before April 2001. Under its terms about 2,300 people whose cases have been judged especially serious will be exceptionally allowed to stay and will be granted residents' papers.
The issue has brought bitter confrontation to Dutch politics, which in turn has been more volatile since the anti-immigrant party led by the radical populist Mr Pim Fortuyn burst from nowhere to win second place in the 2002 election.
The coalition government, led by Mr Jan Pieter Balkenende, has defended its stance by saying the measure was outlined in its election manifesto.
An opinion poll at the weekend showed that two-thirds of the population backed an amnesty for asylum seekers who have been living in the Netherlands for more than five years. - (Guardian Service)
The British government yesterday agreed a package of measures to prepare for a potential influx of immigrants from 10 states that join the EU in May.
The measures will be announced on Monday in a statement to parliament, Work and Pensions Minister Mr Andrew Smith said, while declining to give details of the package.
Mr Smith said the package - hammered out at a meeting of ministers yesterday - contains regulations that "set out whether and under what terms people can access our labour markets".