RFE/RL on citizenship policies in Gemany
Date: Mon, 12 May 97 09:36:46 -0500
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
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Subject: RFE/RL on citizenship policies in Gemany
From: MINELRES moderator \ Internet: ([email protected])
Germany: Government Reluctant To Integrate Foreign Families
By Roland Eggleston Munich, 7 May 1997 (RFE/RL)
-- One of the ways in which Germany differs from other European countries is
its reluctance to integrate the millions of foreign families who have
entered the country since the 1960's.
The integration of foreign families who have established roots in the host
country after many years of residence is common in many parts of Europe. But
German policy still follows a 1913 law that nationality can only be
inherited from German ancestry -- the so-called bloodline. In practice,
this means that the millions of ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union
and eastern Europe who have emigrated here in recent years are entitled to
automatic citizenship even if they speak little German.
But Turks and others who were born in Germany of foreign parents, went to
German schools, work for German companies and pay German taxes face
enormous difficulties in obtaining German citizenship.
Recent statistics show that such people now make up nine percent of
Germany's population (about 7.2 million people). About two million of them
are Turks, who began coming to Germany in the 1960's to ease the labor
shortage and do the sort of jobs which Germans did not want to do -- such as
street cleaning, garbage removal and other low-level jobs. Some went home
after a few years but thousands remained to send their children to local
schools and universities so that they became Germans in practically
everything except their nationality.
Some of these children have reached senior positions in the law, engineering
and other professions but relatively few have obtained a German passport.
There is only one Turkish-German in the Federal parliament -- Cem Ozdemir,
a 30-year-old representative of the Greens party who was born in a village
in the Black Forest.
Ethnic Turks are the most numerous of the "foreign" population of Germany
but Greeks, and Italians also have strong colonies here. Since the fall of
the Berlin Wall there has also been an influx of Russians, Poles and other
eastern Europeans even though they are not ethnic-Germans.
Some politicians and psychologists fear that refusing the German-born
children of these people the right to German citizenship if they want it,
could lead to serious ethnic tensions. In lengthy arguments in the serious
German media, they argue that many young Turkish-Germans feel rejected by a
society into which they born but which denies them full membership. There is
a fear that some could turn to nationalist movements or various forms of
religious fundamentalism which could cause problems in a country which
traditionally fears divisive sects.
German chancellor Helmut Kohl leads the conservative, right wing elements in
parliament who are reluctant to make it easier for ethnic Turks and others
born in Germany to obtain German citizenship. Kohl likes to declare that
Germany will not become an immigration nation, like the United States.
Other conservatives take a much harder line. Some of the strongest opponents
of a genuine integration are to be found in the southern German province of
Bavaria, a traditionally-conservative region. Some Bavarian politicians mix
the two issues of integration of German-born foreigners and the soaring rate
of unemployment which has now reached 4.6 million, the highest level since
the Great Depression of the 1930's. One of the spokesmen for these
politicians is Michael Glos, who is parliamentary chief of the governing
conservative party in Bavaria. He says: "it would be foolish, both
politically and economically, to offer the benefits of German citizenship to
millions of foreigners in the present economic situation." He says it is
unacceptable that about a million work permits are issued to foreigners each
year while so many Germans are out of work.
Critics say Glos is mixing two issues. They argue there is a difference
between giving jobs to foreigners who were born in Germany and those who
come briefly to take jobs at lower wages than Germans will accept, many of
these work in the building industry.
But there is a growing group of younger parliamentarians who believe the
time has come to at least modify the German system. They want it made easier
for these "ethnic foreigners", as some people call them, to become German
citizens with full rights and responsibilities.
One of the leaders in this movement is the federal politician Mrs. Cornelia
Schmalz-Jacobsen, who is the commissioner for foreigners. In a recent
interview she argued that Germany had already become a society of varied
races and cultures.
"We are now in the third generation of families who came here to work in the
1960's," she said. She ridiculed the common practice of referring to them as
"guest workers" or the cumbersome "foreign fellow citizens." In Mrs. Schmalz
-Jacobsen's view, "these people are German and should be recognized as such.
"
Some younger members of the governing Christian Democrats share her views. A
Christian Democrat parliamentarian, Horst Eylmann, said recently: "It has to
be in our interests not to leave these people out in the cold but allow them
to take on responsibilities in Germany. If they are born here, go to school
here, study here and train for a job here they should be allowed to become
Germans if they wish to do so."
Political analysts say pressure is growing in the German parliament to make
it easier for German-born foreigners to obtain citizenship. Some steps have
already been taken. Until 1993 foreigners had to wait up to 15 years before
they could apply for citizenship. Now an applicant needs only eight years
residency, reasonable fluency in German and proof that he can support
himself.
But critics say this leaves a false impression. The bureaucratic hurdles
remain high and in the conservative provinces, such as Bavaria, officials
can still raise many obstacles.
However almost every week sees new reports of pressure on the Parliament to
improve the situation. One remaining hurdle is the demand by Turkish
nationalists that ethnic Turks who take German citizenship should be allowed
to keep their Turkish citizenship. But such "dual citizenship" is alien to
Germany and is unlikely to be approved. Analysts argue that ethnic Turks
must also be ready to make compromises if they want to become German
citizens.
1997 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
--
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