Better registration, more efforts to deal with illegal housing and a special working group to combat crime. Those are some of the measures announced in Amsterdam on Tuesday to improve how the city deals with immigrants from Eastern Europe.

The capital decided early last year on the need for a clear approach to the problems of immigration from Central and Eastern Europe. A councillor, Eric van der Burg , was given the taks of coming up with a plan.

In some Dutch cities, such as Rotterdam and The Hague, immigration from Eastern Europe is already high on the agenda. In Amsterdam it has taken a little longer as the capital has drawn fewer immigrants from that region. According to the latest official figures there are about 12,000.

"With the majority of EU migrants in Amsterdam doing well'', explains the city council, "there is a growing, mostly non-registered group that has or creates problems.''