” “Controversies on immigration

A controversial majority of the government coalition (SPD-Greens) approved the new law on immigration (cf. SIREurope no. 9/2002) at a session of the Bundesrat in Berlin – the Upper Chamber of the regions – on 22 March. The new law should now pass to Federal President Johannes Rau for ratification. Edmund Stoiber, leader of the opposition (CSU) and candidate for the post of Chancellor in the forthcoming elections, has however announced an appeal to the Constitutional Court. The president of German Caritas, Hellmut Puschmann, has expressed the hope that “immigration and integration not be exploited for electoral purposes”. We sounded out the views of Corinna Sandersfeld , jurist attached to the Refugee Hospitality Service of the Jesuits in Berlin. Is the new law “an historic occasion” as claimed by Chancellor Schröder? “The real historic occasion was that of the debate following the ‘Süssmuth Report’, which provided a diagnosis of the current situation of immigration in Germany, and that of the draft legislation that followed it up. Unfortunately the law that has just been approved has only partially taken on board the report’s recommendations. Nonetheless, this new law may represent a point of departure”. After having analyzed the new legislation, what conclusions have you reached? “We have tried to understand whether immigration is actually supported by the new law, or whether it simply establishes its flow and whether the immigration procedure is regulated, also on the basis of criteria other than work. In this regard we have ascertained that the procedure for asylum application is a significant improvement and that persecution by any Government now represents a legitimate motivation for the right to asylum and the right to obtain a residence permit. Other positive changes introduced by the new law are those in favour of illegal immigrants and other particular cases, such as sick persons or immigrants who have lived in Germany for a long time, who could now obtain a residence permit for motives other than work. At the same time we have ascertained many debatable aspects in the new law”. Such as? “First, the criteria for expulsion remain unchanged. Second, the aspect relating to the policies for the integration of immigrants is controversial. The law has made progress, nonetheless our judgement on this remains one of prudence, because there’s still a long way to go”. What will change for immigrants? “Everything depends on the labour market; it cannot of course be hoped that all of a sudden anyone making an application will automatically get a work permit.” Patrizia Collesi