The number of migrants from central and eastern Europe moving to the Netherlands is much greater than had been expected, social affairs minister Henk Kamp has told a parliamentary committee.

The sharp rise since 2004 is ‘the most important development’ in terms of migration, the minister said, according to a report in the Telegraaf.
The committee is looking into lessons which can be learned from recent patterns of migration, the paper says.
The government’s macro-economic think tank CPB says that in 2004 and 2005, an estimated 7,500 to 15,000 central and eastern Europeans came to the Netherlands. Now there are some 200,000 on local authority registers but it is unclear how many live beneath the official radar, the CPB says.

Social security
The minister also said the number of people claiming welfare benefits (bijstand) has gone up from 460 in 2008 to 1070 by the end of last year.
The number of unemployment benefit (ww) claims has risen from 107 in 2007 to 1,527 by December 2010. Everyone in work pays unemployment benefit employment premiums.
The government is planning to make it harder for eastern Europeans to claim welfare benefits by introducing language and other requirements.
It has also stopped market gardeners bringing in Romanians and Bulgarians on short contracts to pick fruit and vegetables, saying there are enough jobless people in the Netherlands who can do the work.