Negotiations between Germany’s Christian Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party must be concluded by 26 November if they are to succeed in forming a coalition Government before Christmas. The right to dual nationality is one of the Social Democrats non-negotiable demands and, with the Christian Democrats holding fast to the status quo, the working group assigned to immigration has so far been unable to find a compromise. The current situation requires children born to non-EU nationals to choose between German citizenship and that of their parents upon turning 23 and non-EU immigrants who want to naturalise are required to give up their original nationality.
The German results of MPG’s joint ACIT project shows that Germany’s refusal to recognise dual citizenship is a deterrent to naturalisation for many national groups, in particular people of Turkish origin. And the requirement for 23 year-olds to choose will inevitably result in children born in Germany losing their status as German citizens when it takes affect this year. The Christian Democrat’s election slogan on this topic was “Yes to our country”, a statement which supposes negative integration results among holders of dual citizenship.
Yet, according to the ACIT project’s European Summary and Standards, hardly any evidence exists that dual citizenship is related to problems of integration in the country of residence. On the contrary, dual citizenship facilitates naturalisation (and would prevent young Germans with a migrant background from losing their nationality) which, in turn, has a positive impact on economic, social and civic integration.
