Status: 11/28/2022 5:10 p.m
Chancellor Scholz has once again intervened in the debate about naturalization. He defended the planned reform and campaigned for easier naturalization. But some politicians from the Union and FDP are stonewalling.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has defended the intended reform of naturalization against criticism. “Nine million citizens live and work in our country without having German citizenship. But a democracy thrives on the opportunity to have a say,” said Scholz (SPD). “This is how legitimacy is created, this is how the acceptance of government decisions grows.”
You have to be careful that the number of residents and the electorate do not differ too much. “Anyone who lives and works here on a permanent basis should also be able to vote and be elected, they should be part of our country with all the rights and duties that go with it. And this should be completely independent of origin, skin color or religious affiliation,” said the Chancellor .
Scholz: Also facilitate dual citizenship
Scholz also defended the plan to facilitate dual citizenship. He never understood why people insisted so vehemently that the old citizenship had to be given up. “Belonging and identity are not a zero-sum game.” Even today, 60 percent of those who were naturalized kept their first citizenship. Especially in the Union, dual citizenship is viewed with skepticism.
However, the Chancellor also conceded: “Of course, not everyone who wants to come to us can stay here permanently.” There are limits to a country’s absorption capacity, exceeding which is at the expense of both the acceptance of immigration and the success of integration. The reality, however, is that two-thirds of the increase in the number of employees can be attributed to immigrants without a German passport.
Actively promote German citizenship
But the government not only wants to lower the legal hurdles for naturalization, but also actively promote German citizenship among foreigners who have been living in Germany for a longer period of time. This was announced by Scholz and his party colleague, the Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, Reem Alabali-Radovan, at an event entitled “Germany. Immigration Country. Dialogue for Participation and Respect”.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said that it was important to her personally to simplify the naturalization of people from the so-called guest worker generation. It is also a question of justice for them. Faeser said of the Union, which is against dual citizenship as the norm and against the planned shortening of minimum residence periods: “It must finally arrive in the 21st century.” Alabali-Radovan explained that it was about “knocking the last dust of the imperial era out of naturalization law”.
Plans for easier naturalization
According to the plans of the Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, it should be possible to obtain citizenship after five years of residence in Germany instead of the previous eight years. In the case of “special integration achievements” this should be possible after three years – for example if immigrants have shown special academic or professional achievements or voluntary work or have particularly good language skills. For foreigners who have reached the age of 67, the previously applicable language level requirements are also to be lowered.
FDP: “Not the right time”
But the plans are causing discord within the traffic light coalition. Several FDP politicians raise concerns. FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai told the “Rheinische Post”: “Now is not the time to simplify citizenship law. So far there has been no progress whatsoever in the repatriation and combating illegal migration.”
The responsible departments did not even manage to appoint the special representative planned by the coalition. The traffic light should therefore not take the second step before the first, said Djir-Sarai.
Faeser’s approach is also too quick for the FDP top politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann. It is right that those who live and work in Germany for a long time should be integrated more quickly, said Strack-Zimmermann in RTL/ntv’s “Frühstart”. “But before Ms. Faeser makes it a matter for the boss, she should first ensure that those who are illegal here, those who may have been noticed by law, are properly brought back first.”
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) wrote on Twitter that when it comes to immigration, “all helping hands are welcome in the labor market, but nobody who just wants to hold their hand in the social system”. The same applies to citizenship.
Union: first integration, then citizenship
Even the Union thinks nothing of the plans. The German passport should not be invalidated, said CDU general secretary Mario Czaja of the “Rheinische Post”. It must continue to apply: “First integration, then citizenship”. The granting of German citizenship is therefore at the end, not at the beginning, of an integration process.
The domestic political spokesman for the Union faction, Alexander Throm (CDU), told the dpa news agency: “Instead of controlling migration, the traffic light is giving more and more residence rights to rejected asylum seekers.” In the near future, even German citizenship should be distributed widely without demanding that the previous citizenship be given up.” But anyone who wants a “commitment to Germany” should be able to expect such a decision.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt and CDU leader Friedrich Merz had previously expressed strong reservations.