Prime Minister Mark Rutte has asked Immigration Minister Gerd Leers to clear up the ‘misunderstanding’ with Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders about Mr Leers’ policies.

Mr Wilders blamed the Christian democratic minister for “talking CDA nonsense when the minister said that “Migration enriches our society.” The CDA minister says he expects to solve the ‘misunderstanding’ in a meeting with Mr Wilders.

Mr Leers says his statements are in accordance with the agreement between the ruling CDA – VVD coalition and the Freedom Party in which the latter agreed to support the minority centre-right government from parliament on most issues.

The immigration minister says that the agreement did not only include limiting migration, but also changing the focus of migration policies. Mr Leers argues that the Dutch labour market needs migrants with specific knowledge and skills, for instance in health care, and that policy should be geared to this need.

(gsh)

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