“Anyone who becomes a German citizen is committed to life in our free and diverse society.”
(Photo: IMAGO/Future Image)
Berlin The federal government has agreed on further basic features of a new citizenship law with easier naturalizations. People who have committed crimes for anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic or other inhuman motives should be expressly excluded from this.
This is provided for in a new draft by the Ministry of the Interior, which was coordinated with the Department of Justice, among others. It is available to the German Press Agency, initially the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Friday) reported about it. A prerequisite for naturalization should also be that you and your family can generally earn a living without social benefits. Exceptions should be regulated.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said: “Anyone who becomes a German citizen is committed to life in our free and diverse society.” Therefore, racism, anti-Semitism or any other form of misanthropy are opposed to naturalization. “There is no tolerance whatsoever. Anyone who does not share our values cannot become German.”
At the same time, she emphasized: “We want people who have become part of our society to be able to help shape our country democratically.” Good examples such as Canada showed that this perspective is also crucial in order to attract urgently needed specialists.
The core of the legislative plans, for which a first draft had already been submitted, is a reduction in the minimum residence time for naturalization from eight to five years. In the case of special integration services, three years should also suffice. The new draft is now to be voted on by the federal states and associations.
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