The official name of the new document – the Law on the Management and Restriction of Immigration (Gesetz zur Steuerung und Begrenzung der Zuwanderung) – may be misleading. One might imagine a set of paragraphs regulating refugee flows, thanks to which migration chaos in the country would come to an end. In reality, however, this law, perhaps the most controversial in the entire history of post-war Germany, does not regulate anything in particular. As before, it leaves many “blank spots” in the procedure for admitting certain groups of foreigners, and the groups themselves are still not unified. But could one expect anything constructive from a document born as the result of a tortured compromise between political camps?
The Greens advocated for introducing an “open door” immigration policy in Germany modeled on the US and Canada, the conservative CDU/CSU bloc demanded sharp restrictions on entry, and the Social Democrats balanced on the brink of mutually exclusive contradictions, trying to please both coalition partners and the opposition.
So what happened happened, and for the vast majority of foreigners already living in Germany, nothing much will change. Although, as the Senate commissioner Günter Piening solemnly declared in his New Year’s address to Berlin migrants, “with the law entering into force, all foreign fellow citizens will receive qualitatively new, better prerequisites for successful integration into the social, economic, and public life of the country.”
The “integration issue” is perhaps the little that is truly new in the law. The document practically makes integration a duty for foreigners living in Germany and for those who will join this army in the future. It establishes “long-term state assistance” for educational and qualification programs for migrants, in particular, language courses of 300 academic hours, which are now inevitable for all categories of foreigners. Up to 235 million euros per year is expected to be allocated for them from the federal budget; those who avoid training now, according to the law, face penalties – a 10% reduction in benefits and refusal to extend their residence permit. That is in general. In particular, this innovation is to be implemented by the federal states at their own discretion.
The capital, for example, advocates for “shared financial participation” of foreigners in their own integration: Mr. Piening considers 630 euros an acceptable amount for partially paying for the courses. “The poorest, after a detailed check, will of course be exempted from the co-payment,” says the Senate commissioner, “but in general such a measure will not only improve the material base of educational institutions, but also serve as an incentive for migrants to more actively acquire basic knowledge.”
As for the main provision that the law was supposed to regulate – the provision on entry – there is not much new here. Refugees, as before, will be accepted within the framework of a pan-European agreement on quotas by state (though the issue of granting residence permits to those persecuted on non-state and gender grounds will be decided by specially created “commissions for difficult cases”). The age of foreign children covered by the family reunification provision also remains unchanged – 16 years.
“Labor migration” involves easing the entry procedure for highly qualified specialists and self-employed entrepreneurs who are ready to invest at least one million euros in the German economy, as well as limiting the influx of unskilled workers from non-EU countries. Young specialists receive the right to reside in the country for one year after completing their education at German universities.
The new law also did not regulate the procedure for admitting contingent refugees from Eastern Europe to Germany. The decision on an amendment to the document proposing to restrict the entry of persons of Jewish origin, which agitated the public on the eve of Christmas, has been postponed. The Ministry of the Interior has assured that no amendments will be adopted without coordination with the Central Council of Jews in Germany. According to the latest reports from news agencies, the president of the council, Paul Spiegel, considers unacceptable the proposal to admit only those immigrants who do not claim social assistance, since its implementation would mean “dividing potential Jewish refugees into rich and poor.”
Other possible innovations – mandatory knowledge of the German language and possession of a “certificate,” an invitation from one or another Jewish community in Germany – will be considered by the federal government in cooperation with the Central Council, promised Interior Minister Otto Schily, founding father of the Law on the Management and Restriction of Immigration.
Elena OBODOVSKAYA,
“Russkaya Germania”.