Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s (SPD) plans to reform citizenship law have sparked a controversial debate.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”: “German citizenship is something very valuable and you have to be careful with it.” Dual citizenship should not be the norm, but the exception. If the goal of the coalition is immigration into the social systems, this must be prevented. “Then of course we won’t agree to that.” In an international comparison, Germany already has very modern immigration law.
The SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed in their coalition agreement that foreigners in Germany could more easily obtain German citizenship. Faeser is now driving the issue forward. A draft law from her ministry, which the SZ first reported on, provides that people who have already lived in this country for several years can become German citizens more easily. Instead of eight years, as is currently the case, it should be possible to obtain citizenship after five years of residence in Germany. In the case of “special integration achievements”, this should even be possible after three years – for example if immigrants have shown special academic or professional achievements or voluntary commitment or have particularly good language skills.
Scholz: Germany needs better regulations for naturalization
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said Germany needed “better regulations” for naturalization. With a view to the people who have come to Germany in the past few decades, he said in a video message: “Some have lived here for a very, very long time and have children and grandchildren. And that’s why it’s very good if those who have come for so long live with us, also decide to acquire German citizenship.”
The Turkish community likes the project. The initiative is a “paradigm shift,” said Gökay Sofuoglu, chairman of the editorial network Germany (RND). “German citizenship law no longer reflects today’s reality; it has to be tackled from the ground up,” he says. It is also about achieving a certain level of equality and thus enabling more people to participate in politics.
CDU demands that Faeser stop the plans
The Union, on the other hand, clearly opposed the plans. CSU regional group chief Alexander Dobrindt said picture: “Bargaining German citizenship does not promote integration, but has the exact opposite purpose and will trigger additional pull effects in illegal migration.” The CDU member of the Bundestag and interior expert Stefan Heck spoke of an “inflationary allocation of German passports” that contained “enormous social explosives”. Faeser must stop the plans, he demanded.
Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl called Faeser’s proposal deeply questionable. “Citizenship is a valuable asset, something that comes at the end of an integration process, a clear commitment to the German state and its values,” explained the CDU state chairman. The Baden-Württemberg Integration Minister Manne Lucha (Greens) said: “As a modern immigration country, we need modern citizenship law in order to become more attractive in global competition and to retain skilled workers.”
Greens accuse Union of “dusty world view”.
“In the future, we will enable naturalization earlier – as an expression of a modern immigration country,” said Filiz Polat, parliamentary director of the Greens parliamentary group. What can be done here after years of blockade by the Union in the federal government is massive. “The Union’s antiquated world view lags behind social reality and a modern society,” said Polat.
Stephan Thomae, parliamentary director of the FDP parliamentary group, also criticized the Union for its statements. You still fail to recognize that Germany is an immigration country. It is simply wrong that the new nationality law does not provide any incentives for integration, because exactly the opposite is the case.