Germany and its immigration policy
“It's just obvious you can't have free immigration and a welfare state.” (Milton Friedman)
Nowadays, there are about 272 Million migrants worldwide according to the official statistics made by the United Nations. After World War II Germany together with France and the United Kingdom became the major immigration destinations in Europe. Today, about 15% of the 83 million people living in Germany have an immigrant background. This report aims to go through the milestones of German immigration history to understand:
- why Germany is considered to be an attractive immigration land
- what are the reasons for Germany to open its borders to refugees
- what are the implications of German immigration policy for German society
To begin with, when we speak about a migrant one should understand that a migrant is “a person who moves away from their place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons.” (The International Migration Office) 4 major types of migration are acknowledged by the International Migration Office. The basis for this classification was the reasons that push people to leave the country:
- labor migration (a migration for employment; in search of higher wages, job opportunities, and a better quality of life)
- forced migration or displacement (a migration that is forced as the result of war, violations of human rights, or any kind of disaster)
- human trafficking and modern slavery (there are about 25 Million people who were illegally transported for forced labor or sexual exploitation)
- environmental migration (a migration that is caused by a sudden change in the environment that threatens people's lives)
SForyears, people immigrate to Germany for different reasons, most of them are employment (labor migration), family reunification, and qualitative education. Germany is a young immigrant country with a young welcome culture. Even though German migration history began long before World War II, this report will focus on the immigration politics of Germany in the post-war period.
After World War II, Germany experienced a boom in labor migration. In the post-war period due to the expansion of production, Germany had its rebirth as a global economic power. To meet the demand for cheap labor Germany had to invite a lot of guest workers from other countries to provide its factories and companies with workers. Thus, Germany made recruitment treaties first with Italy, Spain, and Greece then with Turkey , and after with Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia, and Yugoslavia. The additional labor was supposed to fill the demand for labor caused by the so-called German economic miracle, but Germany was not aware of the crucial consequences it would have on German society. Initially, guest workers were not allowed to bring their families to Germany and were supposed to leave Germany after two years. However, with time German government has changed the rules as they found it expensive and time-consuming to recruit and train new workers. The contracts were prolonged, and the workers were allowed to bring their families to join them. Everything was made so that it would have been harder for workers to leave. In 1973 recruitment from foreign countries came to an end due to the global oil crisis, many workers came back to their homelands, but many of them stayed.
The labor migration 1960s brought about 750,000 Turks to Germany. Half of them left Germany once the treaty was over, but a lot of them stayed and brought their families later. Today, after 60 years, there are around 2,5 million people with a Turkish background living in Germany, making them the biggest diaspora in Germany.
As Turkish workers were not planning to stay in the beginning, they didn’t see the need to integrate into the German society which caused a problem in assimilation later. The German government, in its turn, took no actions from the side of the German government to integrate the Turkish people. First, they thought that they were going to come back to their homelands, which is why they didn’t learn German which is the most important for assimilation. Turkish people were not offered German classes. and integration courses paid for by the government. Thus, until today some of them don’t speak German, which is the most important criterion for assimilation - to speak the language of your host country. They built their community in Germany. cultural clash.
Difficulties with integration. obstacles in assimilation. Integration of the Turkish diaspora was made improperly. learn from the mistakes of the past.
- European Migration Crisis 2015 - forced migration
- General information on forced migration
In 2015, Germany faced the European migration crisis. What is this migration crisis?
Pre-history of migration crisis: Immigration to Europe began in the early 20th century from the Middle East with the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan (2001), continued with the war in Iraq (2003), and finally with the Syrian civil war (2011). These are the three main nationalities of the 1 million refugees who were forced to migrate to Europe in 2015 in search of international protection, as their lives were in danger because of the army conflict in their homeland.
But why exactly in 2015 did the number of refugees fleeing to Europe reach its maximum causing the migration crisis as the eEuropeanstates were overwhelmed with a rrefugeesflow? According to the Institute for Migration Policy, this happened as a result of “intersecting push-and-pull factors” that accumulated over the years and intensified in the spring and summer of 2015:
The ongoing violence and instability in countries of origin force people to flee the country as they see that there is no work for them no school for their children no life opportunities and no clarity when the conflict will be over;
Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, as the first asylum destinations, dried up their political and economic resources and as a reult , tightened their borders.
European bureaucratic institutions exceeded their limits over the years while accepting annually thousands of refugees.
Refugees crossed the Mediterranean Sea and arrived at the shores of Italy and Greece, the frontline states of the European Union which were directly affected by the refugee crisis. Long months of negotiation between the European nation-states ended up with a European council that took place inBrusselsn on 22Septemberr 2015 which brought a decision to share the struggles of Italy and Greece and relocate 120,000 refugees to other European countries.
European countries and Germany in particular were not ready to accept such a blargeamount of refugees as they didn’t have enough experience hosting so many asylum seekers. The increasing number of refugees exceeded the capacity of European bureaucratic institutions as there were too many applications for asylum to process. Usually, refugees seek temporary asylum in the hope of returning to their homeland after the resolution of the army conflicts, however, many of them have stayed in Germany either because of their wish or because the war at home was not over and they still couldn’t come back. As the wars in Afghanistan, Iand Iraq until now were not resolved, all the refugees who came to Germany in previous years had to stay in Germany as they dcouldn’tcome back. Thus, the number of refugees hosted in Germany exceeded its limits over the years stretching Germany’s immigration system to the limit.
Reasons for Germany to open the borders
Before blaming the German immigration policy, let's try to understand why the German government decided to host so many people who have totally another religions, cultures, and traditions.
The main reason why Germany opened its borders to refugees from Syria, Iraq, Aand Afghanistan is catastrophically low birth rates and high unemployment rates and, as a result, a lack of work power, which will inevitabcrash thethe Germann economy one day.
Is it out of financial reason? The German government has already put billions into encouraging Germans to give birth. Unfortunately, all the official efforts have failed to change the national mood of not having children. Since August 2013 all children were promised to have a place in a kindergarten. The administration of Merkel has also improved parental leave benefits. The German government gave a lot of social help (like child moneyand parentss moneyy, kindergarten money) from the state to help their citizens and to encourage Germans to give birth. However, the situation didn’t improve. What is worse, the statistics have shown that Germany is athecountry with the lowest percentage of children among all European countries. Compared to the year 2010, the percentage of children under 18 years old has decreased from 18,8 percent to 16,5 percent in 2010.
German government for the last 10 years has been trying to solve the problem of low birth rratesin the country. Merkel’s administration thought that it was a question of money. However, when the government put billions from the state budget into parental leave benefits and saw no changes, they realized that politicians ccouldnot address the reasons why Germans don’t want to give birth. Seems like it is a national trend.
The longer I stayed in Germany, the more I got to know German culture and the German way of thinking. Of course, all people are different and we cannot say that they all think the same, but there is a prevailing mood, let's say a trend, among the German people which characterizes most of them. For example, one of the main features that describes Germans is the fact that they don't want to have children or want to have them later when it's already too late. This makes Germany the country with the lowest childbirth rate in all of Europe. When you speak with Germans, you always hear the same speeches: First, I want to enjoy my life and later make fa amily. And later after 30 women are not able to have children anymore. Then they are suffering from ECO, adopting children from other countries. Research has shown that a woman has to give birth first time before 27 years old. Otherwise, the chances of giving birth after this age decrease. (tell more here)
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Essay on Push and Pull Factors of German Immigration.
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