Who says Friedrich Merz’s government can’t get things done?
After months of to-ing and fro-ing about this and that, of infighting about even basic stuff like elections to the Constitutional Court, and of kicking pressing issues like social care or pensions into the select committee long-grass, the CDU/CSU-SPD Coalition have proven that, when they want to, they can move quickly.
This week they took back the fast-track route to German citizenship after three years’ residency. There were no endless arguments. There were no failed votes. And there will be no grace period. Zack! Ende, aus. That’s the ruthless German efficiency we’ve all been missing.
So what does the end of what became known as Turbo-Einbürgerung mean? And, more importantly, what does it say about the direction Germany is heading in?
Hundreds affected, not thousands
In practice, the removal of the fast-track to citizenship will mean little. Although it enraged conservatives who thought it tantamount to handing a passport to anyone straight off the boat, the reality was more nuanced. For, beyond the headline-grabbing three-year residency requirement, applicants needed to demonstrate that they were particularly well-integrated, showing a command of German (C1 level), a strong academic or professional track record, and preferably some form of volunteering.
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These things are hard to acquire in a three-year period, and so there were correspondingly few applicants on this track. More than offering early application, it was allowing dual citizenship which has increased numbers. Indeed, the average residency of new applicants has actually risen from 10.9 to 11.4 years, and the surge in successful citizenship applications following last year’s reform was primarily due to large numbers of Syrians, who mainly arrived in the years around 2015.
By contrast, three-year fast-track was always aimed at a very small group of highly-qualified, highly-motivated individuals who would almost certainly need prior knowledge of German (or a knack for picking up languages). Accordingly, application numbers were counted in the hundreds, not thousands.
Too early for many
Not least because, if we’re frank, who would actually want to apply for citizenship in a new country after just thirty-six months? Speaking from personal experience, I wasn’t even thinking about taking German nationality at that stage in my life here – despite having previously studied the language to degree level and already being very happy here.
For me, citizenship came to feel more important as I realised that I intended to stay long-term – and when, after having paid no small amount of tax, a general election passed me by in which I realised that I would actually like to have a vote. I also sensed early that Brexit might happen; getting a European passport seemed a sensible precaution.
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When I applied, in 2015, the standard minimum residency was eight years – and, having been here for only seven continuously, I had to show besondere Integrationsleistungen of the kind necessary for the soon-to-be-defunct fast-track. I was willing – and able – to do that in a way I wouldn’t have been a few years previously. So in that sense, the sceptical conservative voices have a point: the three-year fast-track actually did feel too fast somehow. For me, the reduced five-year requirement still in place feels about right – and is comparable with what many other European countries offer.
Sending signals
But, since we’re talking about feelings here, and not facts: whatever I or anyone else felt about the three-year fast track, removing it so soon after it was put in place and when it has so clearly not been abused by thousands-upon-thousands of passport-hungry undesirables certainly does feel… well, spiteful.
It fits a broader cultural picture of a country where attitudes towards newcomers are hardening across the board. This is a shift I wrote about almost exactly a year ago, predicting that reversing some aspects of last summer’s citizenship reform would be on the cards. So it’s depressing to be proven right.
What is even more depressing, however, is the shameless way in which removing the fast-track option is openly being celebrated as a deterrent to immigrants. This week, Interior Minister Dobrindt put it in these words: “We are sending a clear and public signal: this government is reducing pull-factors.” Yes, people of the world, make no mistake about it: despite its declining population and the huge pensions problem this is already entailing, Germany doesn’t want any more new arrivals – even the ones who, theoretically, would be good enough citizens to meet the highest naturalisation requirements (and contribute to the economy from day one).
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In German, we talk of Signalwirkung. And whether they wanted a passport so soon or not: anyone with language skills good enough to understand that particular compound noun who was thinking of coming here will now be reconsidering.
Who would, after all, want to come to a country with our chequered past where a fragile government is disguising its inaction on important policy areas – and expressly seeking to scare off all newcomers – by making it more difficult for a small number of well-meaning candidates to integrate fully into society?
Once it had been introduced, junking the three-year rule was always going to send the wrong signal.
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