The federal government not only wants to lower the legal hurdles for naturalization, but also actively promote German citizenship among foreigners who have been living in Germany for a longer period of time.

This was announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his party colleague, the Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, Reem Alabali-Radovan, on Monday in Berlin at an event entitled “Germany.

immigration country.

Dialogue for Participation and Respect”.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said that it was important to her personally to simplify the naturalization of people from the so-called guest worker generation.

For them it is also a question of justice.

Faeser said about the Union, which is against dual citizenship as the norm and against the planned shortening of the minimum residence periods: "It must finally arrive in the 21st century." knock, explained Alabali-Radovan.

Scholz said: "A democracy thrives on the opportunity to have a say".

It is therefore important that the population and the electorate are not too far apart.

Scholz said that during his time as the first mayor of Hamburg, he was always very touched at naturalization ceremonies.

Regarding the task of citizenship of the country of origin, which has usually been necessary up to now, Scholz said: "I never understood why we insisted on it."

"Shake off the Conservative Muff"

SPD leader Saskia Esken defended the planned reform of citizenship law on Monday as a step towards modernizing Germany.

"With this reform of citizenship law, the traffic light will continue to work to shake off the conservative mustiness of this country, and it is not surprising that the Union does not agree for the time being," Esken said after the SPD committee deliberations in Berlin.

"Performance should also be worthwhile, also in this context."

According to Esken, the aim of the plans is to give people who have been living in Germany for years and who are well integrated the legal opportunity to belong, especially when it comes to voting.

"It's a question of democracy that the electorate and the population don't keep falling apart, that we don't have more and more people living with us for decades who just don't have full participation."

The SPD chair emphasized: "Nevertheless, German citizenship is of course still tied to clear criteria and also to years of residence in Germany." Anyone who has a so-called qualified right of residence should in future be able to be naturalized after five years instead of the previous eight years .

A reduction to three years should be possible for particularly well-integrated people - such as those with very good German, very good performance at school or volunteer work.

For centuries, Germany had been more of a country of emigration than a country of immigration.

Pride is appropriate because Germany is an attractive country.

Millions of migrants would have a part in it.