THE HAGUE, 21/01/04 - A Lower House majority wants to raise the age level at which a person can bring in a marriage partner from abroad. The Christian democrats (CDA), conservatives (VVD) and Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) propose increasing the threshold from 21 to 24.

CDA parliamentary party leader Maxime Verhagen floated the plan to raise the age level by three years last week. VVD MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali now says her party also sees the benefit of this increase, creating a majority for the proposal along with the support of the LPF. The question is, whether this is permitted in the EU context. Denmark was awarded a special position earlier.

A parliamentary commission concluded on Monday that marriage immigration damages integration, without making recommendations. The cabinet does not yet want to elaborate on the subject. The report of the commission, which reviewed the entire integration policy of the past 30 years, will shortly be discussed in the Lower House.