How much immigration can Germany handle? Who can and cannot come? What’s good for the economy, for society, for the rights of persecuted individuals?

These are just some of the questions the German government addresses today when Interior Minister Otto Schily presents his new immigration law before the parliament. For the governing coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens, regulating immigration is one of the most important reform projects for this legislative period.

Originally it looked like Schily’s bill would pass without difficulties, but then the junior coalition partner, the Greens, made suggestions for liberalizing certain portions of the proposal. The opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) and Christian Socialists (CSU) then came along with 79 suggested changes, without which they promised to veto the law. The Liberals (FDP) also announced they would reject the law because of the government’s failure to enact changes in an unrelated anti-terror package up for parliamentary debate.

Now Schily and his SPD party colleagues are caught in a bind. On the one hand they want to find an acceptable compromise and check the immigration reform off their list of election time promises. On the other hand, the SPD is unwilling to give way on what it sees as an important step on the way to improving the situation of foreigners in Germany and regulating immigration.

Regulation and control

The new immigration law is designed to regulate and control the number of immigrants allowed into Germany each year. It is based on four main points: worker’s immigration or the so-called Green Card for highly qualified foreigners, restricting the age limit for children joining parents from 16 to 14, expanding the asylum laws to cover people persecuted by non-governmental groups or those discriminated on the basis of gender, and improving the efforts to integrate foreigners in German society.

"This draft legislation enables us to better control and limit immigration. It enables us to better assure the prosperity that we take for granted," Schily said about his proposal.

The conservative CDU, lead by faction leader Wolfgang Bosbach, accused the SPD proposal of not doing enough to limit immigration. Germany is not a classic immigration country, Bosbach said, and its ability to absorb immigrants is not unlimited: "What we need is not more immigration, but more integration."

As it stands now, the bill includes provisions for integrating foreigners. And if passed it would require all immigrants residing permanently in Germany to attend classes in the German language and civic fundamentals. It would authorize the state to pay for German language courses, and seminars on law, culture and history.

Schily criticized the CDU for blocking the immigration bill in parliament, saying that the opposition was not interested in compromise, but rather hindering immigration.

Unemployment fears

Prior to the debate Schily had warned the CDU about linking immigration to unemployment figures, a tactic the opposition has resorted to in the past. But given the recent publication of unemployment figures, it was a point that could not be avoided.

"We have almost four million registered unemployed and another million and a half people in job creation programs. Finding them work, retraining and further training for German and foreign resident workers must have priority in labor market policy over more immigration," Bosbach said during the debate.

Schily insisted that the government’s proposal would not aggravate Germany’s high unemployment, but rather would allow the government to steer the influx of new workers in order to strengthen the economy. In the course of the debate, he accused the opposition of trying to sideline the entire legislation by arguing that more immigration led to more unemployment.

"I must honestly say that I find it despicable the way you are trying to play unemployment off against immigration. This is vile polemics and demagoguery!" Schily said.

The Social Democrats and Greens argue that the two issues are not as directly related as the conservative parties would have them to be. They point out that immigration along the lines of a Green Card for highly skilled workers would actually improve the economy.

Kerstin Müller, the Greens’ faction leader in parliament argued: "The green card program to bring in highly qualified individuals has shown that immigration can actually help create new jobs. In fact, two or three new jobs for every green card holder - that actually boosts the economy."

Anti-foreigner campaign

As the debate on immigration heats up, it threatens to swell into an election campaign issue, with hard positions being drawn on all sides. With less than one year until national elections, Chancellor Schröder’s coalition government wants to avoid this at all costs.

Kerstin Müller called on the CDU to give up their "blockade" of the immigration proposal and forge a compromise. The bill is a "milestone on the road to modern immigration politics." She warned the CDU and CSU not to engage in an "anti-foreigner campaign."

Two years ago immigration and foreigners played a key role in the election of Hessia’s State Minister, Roland Koch from the CDU. It was a bitter campaign that focused on the highly-publicized petition against immigration and erupted into general anti-foreigner sentiment.

The debate on immigration dates back to the beginning of 2000, when Chancellor Schröder first introduced the Green Card initiative. Ever since then the Greens and the SPD have been working on revamping Germany’s entire immigration policy. In November the two parties finally reached an agreement.

Despite protest from the opposition parties, the bill is likely to pass through parliament without much difficulty by early winter. The toughest hurdle is likely to come later when the proposal is sent to the upper house for passage by state representatives. There it is less likely to find a majority approval, as the CDU controlled states outnumber those governed by the SPD.