Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) claims that the immigration of non-westerners to the Netherlands costs the country between six and ten billion euros a year. The figures are based on the provisional results of research commissioned by the Freedom Party and carried out by the Nyfer Institute. Populist newspaper De Telegraaf quoted the Freedom Party as saying that each migrant costs the taxpayer several hundred thousand euros. Speaking on public radio today, Geert Wilders confirmed this and said he thought the final figures would be much higher. He added that this was because non-western immigrants are much more often unemployed and more often involved in crime. Nyfer is not happy with the release of these figures. It says it is still in the middle of its research and believes Wilders has made some extremely rough estimates. Last year the Freedom Party asked the cabinet to produce a cost-benefit analysis of immigration. The then integration minister Eberhard van der Laan said he was not planning to calculate separately how much immigrants cost or benefit Dutch society. (Radio Netherlands)
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