A year ago, Germany's 'red-green' government resorted to a ruse to push the law through the chamber of federal states. However, at the request of the conservative opposition, the Constitutional Court intervened and declared the law invalid because it was adopted in violation of voting procedure. The second attempt to push it through the Bundesrat was doomed from the start. The government submitted the bill in its previous form, ignoring the wishes of the conservative opposition, and the Christian Democratic majority in the chamber of federal states had become even more substantial over the year - following the recent state elections.
At the same time, Germany's party-political elite generally agrees that the country needs immigration, given the falling birth rate and the aging of German society. The dispute is over what kind of immigration. Speaking in the Bundesrat on Friday, the author of the bill, Interior Minister Otto Schily, accused the Christian Democrats of trying to barricade the country's long-overdue opening. He cited the following argument: 'A scholar who studies the history of the United States of America examined the question of how the USA managed to become the world's strongest economic power. And he came to the conclusion that it is primarily the result of the success that Americans have achieved over the centuries in attracting the world's best minds to the country. This is something to think about.' I cannot claim, Schily added, that we are leading in this competitive struggle for the best people.
De facto, Germany has already become an immigration country. In terms of the number of migrants living here - over seven million - it is second only to the USA and Russia, ahead of classic immigration countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, the Federal Republic has dozens, if not hundreds, of rules and regulations governing the entry and residence of foreigners. Only specialists can untangle this web. The new law was supposed to radically thin out the legal jungle, simplify the situation and open up legal opportunities for certain categories of foreigners to move to the country.
The CDU essentially advocates the same thing, but believes that the criteria for selecting those who want to live in Germany should be stricter, that Germany's social security systems should be protected from an influx of foreigners, and German unemployed people from additional competition in the labor market. In addition, the Christian Democrats insist on stronger integration of immigrants already living in Germany. The prime minister of the state of Saarland, Christian Democrat Peter Müller, emphasized that 'it is necessary to create a system that would unambiguously limit the possibilities for immigration and expand integration. The bill presented to us does not meet this goal and therefore cannot receive our approval.'
However, given good will, Müller noted, there are still chances to reach a compromise. The rejected bill has now been submitted to the mediation committee of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.