GERMANY
The German Bishops’ Conference (DKB) has called “disappointing” the compromise reached by the conference of home affairs ministers on the regularization of the right to permanent residence of tolerated foreigners and has deplored in particular the having made the right to permanent residence conditional on whether an immigrant is already in regular employment. The negative view of the German bishops was expressed on 17 November by the director of the press office of the DBK, Marina Höhns, as reported by the German Catholic press agency KNA. On the basis of what was decided by the home affairs ministers of the German Länder, only 20,000 foreigners out of a total of 200,000 will be able to benefit from the right to permanent residence: i.e. those who already have a job. A further 40,000 of them are eligible to have this right recognized, on condition that they find work by 30 September 2007. The German bishops complain that “no just solution for most of those concerned has been found” and that “the deadline fixed for finding work is too close”. The German Catholic Church also judges the provision “problematic” from a humanitarian viewpoint, since “even those who are unable to work are forced to provide not only for their own support but also for assistance and medical treatment without any state aid. That is difficult to achieve for the sick and the disabled”. Criticisms about the provision were also expressed on 18 November by Wolfgang Huber, chairman of the Council of the German Evangelical Church, according to whom “a humanly supportable law is once again placed in doubt by the decision”. “The hope for a step forwards, aroused up till the meeting of the heads of resources of the Federation and the Länder, has been dashed in spite of some positive aspects of the decision”, he added. German Caritas has also expressed a negative view, through its President, Peter Meher. By contrast, the pro-refugee organization Pro Asyl emphasizes that, thanks to the decision, at least a few thousand people can now obtain residence permits.
