Parliament has mostly welcomed extending Dutch participation in the European naval Atalanta mission against piracy off the coast of Somalia.

On Friday, the cabinet decided to deploy two frigates in the first half of 2010 to help protect Unite Nations food transports and merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden. The three  coalition parties, the Christian Democrats, the Labour Party and the Christian Union, in principle support the mission. But they indicated they may hold a special session to obtain more information. Parliament is not required to give its approval for the mission to go ahead. But the cabinet says it is eager to secure broad support for it in parliament.

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