The events of the past summer force us to classify foreign students as a special “risk group”: as is known, two university students (from Lebanon and Syria) were the authors of a fortunately prevented terrorist attack – they left suitcases with explosive devices on regional trains in Dortmund and Koblenz. “If there had been a reliable control system, their entry into Germany as such would have been impossible,” believes Wolfgang Bosbach, head of the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag. He presents the mechanisms of the future system, the main one being a strict check by security agencies not only of the applicant for a student visa, but also of the “guarantor” – the person who, according to the current rule, vouches for the financial side of the student’s stay in Germany. Until now, visa-issuing authorities only needed documents confirming the availability of funds for the student’s subsistence – as a result, experts believe, the aforementioned terrorists entered the country. They entered having as “guarantors” citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany who, as it has now turned out, are known to law enforcement agencies in a not favorable light.
Those eager to obtain a German diploma must now also prepare to undergo the procedure of “archiving identifying data” (which means taking fingerprints), as well as having to go for visa extensions while already in the country much more often: the current two-year residence permit for students is expected to be replaced with a shorter one, limited to a maximum of one year. Authorities for foreigners are instructed to more thoroughly check the documents of those currently studying in Germany in order to “identify unclear parts of their biography.” 187 thousand potential terrorists ready at any moment to skip lectures and go deep underground to build bombs – with such a threat hanging over the country, the checks promise to be serious. “Details still need to be clarified,” emphasizes SPD internal affairs expert Dieter Wiefelspütz, “but the work of the federation and the states in this direction is quite constructive.”
And there is hardly any reason to doubt this, since the former irreconcilable enemies, now members of a single coalition, have agreed among themselves on the migration issue. This is quite natural in the face of the threat of further punitive sanctions from the European Union, which has already announced the possibility of taking measures against Germany for failing to comply with the directives on limiting illegal entry and strengthening security. When Brussels is dissatisfied, the “blacks” and “reds” forget their past disputes, saving the budget from fines. That is what ruling parties are for. And disagreeing with the “criminalization” of foreign youth is the job of the opposition. “Germany needs students from abroad,” Green Party human rights expert Volker Beck never tires of repeating. “They are the key to the economic and scientific development of our country.”
However, it is unlikely that anyone is going to listen to him, and German universities will probably soon turn into bastions inaccessible to applicants for higher education from “suspicious” states.
Lena MÜTZER.
Russkaya Germaniya