Mass naturalization could have a significant impact on the political landscape, which critics of mass migration have long argued is the whole point.
An MP for Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has blasted the left-liberal ‘traffic light’ coalition’s radical new naturalization law, suggesting that it not only encourages more migration but also violates international refugee law which aims to give temporary protection to refugees—not grant quick citizenship.
The law makes migrants and asylum seekers eligible for naturalization after just three to five years of residency instead of eight, was passed by the leftist majority in the Bundestag in January and is set to come into effect in June.
Also under the new law, children born to foreign parents will now qualify for German citizenship at birth so long as one parent has been legally residing in Germany for five years instead of eight.
Restrictions on holding multiple citizenships are also being removed completely. Until the new law took effect, exemptions to the restrictions could be granted, for example to EU citizens.
Activist Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser played a key role in pushing the legislation through and described the reform as an essential part of the “modernization” of German society. She claims that it will help Germany to attract “the best minds.”
Germany’s liberal-centrist opposition sees the law in a different light, with some arguing that it will work mainly to attract many more uneducated, unskilled migrants.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt leveled sharp criticism of the traffic light’s law and slammed the federal government’s Commissioner for Integration Affairs for marketing the naturalization law to the Arab world.
“The traffic light citizenship law is another pull factor for illegal immigration,” he told German media. Referencing an advertisement produced by the Federal Commission for Integration Affairs he added: “The traffic light’s active promotion of dual citizenship in the Arab world will further encourage illegal immigration to Germany.”