Germany adopts a new law allowing multiple nationalities amid harsh criticism from the opposition
Despite widespread criticism from the opposition and after much postponement and discussion, the German Parliament (Bundestag) finally approved a new and updated citizenship law that puts Germany in the ranks of developed Western countries.
German Interior Minister Nancy Weiser (AP)
The new law reduces the waiting period to apply for citizenship from 8 years to 5 years, and eliminates the requirement to renounce original citizenship. It also allows those born in Germany to obtain citizenship if one of the parents has been legally residing in the country for 5 consecutive years. The new law also stipulates language-related facilities for those over 67 years of age, and requires an oral exam only, not a written exam. This point concerns Turkish citizens who came as migrant workers to Germany after World War II.
The law also benefits hundreds of thousands of second- and third-generation Turks who were born and raised in Germany, but do not hold German citizenship because they refuse to renounce their Turkish citizenship.
The flag of the Alternative for Germany party is raised during a farmers’ demonstration protesting government policies near the Brandenburg Gate (EPA)
Until now, German law requires renunciation of original citizenship. This point in particular, i.e. allowing dual citizenship, constituted a subject of great controversy and widespread objections from the opposition, especially from the Christian Democratic Party and its sister Bavarian party. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel belongs to the Christian Democratic Party, and throughout the 15 years she spent in power, she refused to make any amendments to the citizenship law.
For months, members of the party have been repeating that allowing dual citizenship “reduces the value” of the German passport, a statement repeated by party representatives who spoke in Parliament during the discussion and voting session on the draft law.
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz welcomed the new citizenship law, saying to immigrants: Germany needs you! (dpa)
Representative Alexander Thrum from the Christian Democratic Party, known for his strong opposition to the reforms that were adopted, described it as “a law that devalues citizenship.” He added that the government is “going in the opposite direction” by reducing the conditions for obtaining citizenship, instead of tightening them. He accused the socialist-led government, in which the Green and Liberal parties participate, of “increasing division within society, bringing problems, and will have negative consequences.”
Thrum accused the government of buying votes by allowing hundreds of thousands to naturalize through the new law. Thrum was specifically referring to the Turkish community in Germany, which ranges from 3 to 4 million people, and most of which he said support Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He said, “The people who lived here for decades, and decided not to become naturalized due to the ban on multiple nationalities, are the ones who chose their old country over Germany.”
The German coalition government pledged to reform the citizenship law in its government statement, with the aim of making Germany more attractive for skilled workers needed by many industries and professions in the country.
The German government says that the law puts Germany on par with other Western countries such as Britain, France, and the United States, which allow people to apply for their citizenship after 5 years, not 8, which was the case in Germany. The three parties affiliated with the government voted in favor of the law, while the opposition from the Christian Union and the far-right Alternative for Germany party voted against it. The law received 382 votes, against 243 who voted against it and 23 who abstained.
Election banners supporting the Alternative for Germany party in Berlin, January 2 (AFP)
A number of deputies from the Socialist Party responded to the conservative representative by accusing him of “not trusting the Turkish community in Germany.” Socialist Party MP Dirk Weiza asked him: “Why don’t you attack the French citizen who holds dual citizenship and votes for Marine Le Pen?”
The Immigration Commissioner of the Socialist Party, Reem Abdali, a Syrian born in Germany, said that many people have been waiting for this law for a long time, and that dual citizenship is normal in a large number of countries. Al-Abdali pointed out that many immigrants have become “feeling afraid” in Germany after the revelation of a secret meeting of right-wing extremists that discussed the deportation of millions of immigrants, including those with German citizenship.
People walking in the snow at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (Reuters)
Last week, the investigative website Correctiv revealed a secret meeting held last November in the city of Potsdam, adjacent to Berlin, in which representatives from the Alternative for Germany party, represented in Parliament, and whose popularity has been rising dramatically for months, participated. The meeting discussed the idea of deporting everyone of immigrant origin, estimating the number of these people at 25 million people.
The meeting shocked the political class, which called for unity to confront extremists and reject their ideas, which they said were reminiscent of the ideas that the Nazis carried and promoted before the “Holocaust.” Large demonstrations in which tens of thousands participated in German cities protested what emerged from the secret meeting.
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz even called on the Constitutional Protection Authority, i.e. the German domestic intelligence service, to open an investigation into the meeting, which means that the investigations could lead to banning the party.
Angela Merkel during her swearing-in in Parliament on March 14, 2018 (Reuters)
A major debate began a few days ago about the possibility, legality, and feasibility of banning the Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose popularity does not seem to have been affected after the revelation of its representatives’ participation in the secret extremist meeting.
Schulz welcomed the new citizenship law, saying in a recorded video that “anyone who lives here and makes contributions will not be deprived of their roots.” In his weekly message, Schulz referred to the meeting of right-wing extremists and said that what was discussed “is a racist ideology stemming from the Nazis, and that something like this can never be repeated” in Germany. He continued: “The fact that there are people wondering whether they still have a future in Germany is terrible. “And I want to tell them: You belong to Germany, and we need you!” In referring to the new citizenship law, Schulz was keen to also recall the necessity of adhering to “the foundations of the German Constitution,” which rejects “racism and anti-Semitism.”
