quarta-feira, 25 de maio de 2016

Angela Merkel to refugees: Integration is a must


Angela Merkel to refugees: Integration is a must
German government seeks to get tough on migrants with language tests and lessons on German values.

By JANOSCH DELCKER 5/25/16, 5:21 PM CET Updated 5/25/16, 5:22 PM CET

BERLIN — Want to settle in Germany? Then learn the language, get accustomed to Western values, and find a job.

That is the tough-love message the German government sent out to the hundreds of thousands of refugees in the country with a new integration law, approved by the government Wednesday.

While critics describe the draft law, which will need to be ratified by parliament, as largely symbolic, the German government sold it as an assertive measure designed to reassure Germans about the integration of predominantly Muslim asylum-seekers into society.

“We say it clearly: We have learned from the past,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday morning, following a two-day government summit just outside Berlin, adding, “and we expect that people take the opportunities that we offer to integrate themselves.”

The draft law is a compromise drawn up by Merkel’s Christian Democrats, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, and the junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD).

“For the first time, Germany is proactively addressing those who come to us, instead of just watching what they’re doing,” SPD chief Sigmar Gabriel said at a joint press conference with Merkel. “This is the great difference to the [German] immigration history of the last decades.”

The planned integration law, drawn up during all-night cabinet talks in April, is the government’s response to the influx of refugees that reached a peak last fall and led to the emergence of the anti-migrant, anti-Islam Alternative für Deutschland party.

Merkel’s conservatives hope the law will recast the party as a bastion of domestic security, imposing tougher conditions on those who move to Germany, but the SPD — deserted by voters in large numbers and facing the worst crisis in its post-war history — described the draft proposal as “a first step towards an immigration law,” a long-held SPD demand that had been continually blocked by the conservatives, in particular the CSU.

If the draft becomes law, refugees would be able to qualify for permanent residency after five years, two years longer than at present — but only if they can prove elementary German language skills, if they have a job which covers “the largest part of their keep,” and if they take part in so-called “orientation courses” on German culture and society.

Refugees who fail to meet the requirements would face sanctions, such as having their benefits cut, as well as failing to secure permanent residency.

“Language, work, and saying ‘Yes’ to our system of values, these are the three crucial factors for integration,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said Wednesday.

But such demands are putting a strain on German resources.

“We hear from the institutions which are in charge of giving orientation courses that they lack both teachers and classroom space. There are waiting lists, and the institutions can’t keep up with creating additional courses,” Hannes Schammann, a professor of migration policy at the University of Hildesheim, told POLITICO.

Part of the problem is the planned law calling for the courses to be extended from 60 to 100 hours and be expanded in scope to cover topics such as gender equality.

De Maizière and Labor Minister Andrea Nahles confirmed the education shortages during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Migration experts such as Schammann, however, doubt that these courses, whether they last for 60 or 100 hours, are comprehensive.

“Migration policy, like few other policy fields, is largely about symbolism. It’s about catering to … the wish of the voter,” Schammann said. “Measures like the orientation courses are also intended to make sure that the population feels reassured, and that the gap between public opinion and actual policies is not getting too wide.”

Authors:

Janosch Delcker  

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