Germany agrees on refugee integration

Refugee women cover their ears as they hear military jet planes flying over the makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the village of Idomeni, during a military drill on Wednesday. (Photo: AFP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition agreed Thursday on sweeping measures to spur the integration of migrants and refugees in a “historic” first for a country that long resisted embracing immigration.

The deal, hammered out in seven hours of late-night talks between Ms Merkel’s conservative Christian Union bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD), also included plans for new anti-terror legislation.

The integration bill would take a carrot-and-stick approach, providing subsidised courses to help newcomers find their way in German life but, in some cases, denying residence permits to those who fail to take up the offer.

Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers in 2015 and Ms Merkel has faced virulent criticism from sceptics, particularly from within her conservative camp, who argue that Europe's top economy is ill-equipped to cope with the influx.

She told reporters the measures would foster the settlement of those who stay in the country in the long run.

“We know, after hundreds of thousands of refugees arrived in our country, that we are facing a two-pronged challenge: on the one hand controlling the flow of refugees... And of course on the other hand not just registering them but integrating them,” Ms Merkel said.

Vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel of the SPD called the agreement a “historic step” towards acknowledging the “modernisation and opening of our society” and said he hoped it would lead to a broader immigration bill long resisted by conservatives.

“For the first time in the history of the republic, Germany will have its own integration law,” he said, criticising decades of neglect of the issue.

“The integration of people from very different cultures does not happen on its own, as we were forced to learn based on our experience.”

Beginning in the 1960s, Germany invited Turks and other “guest workers” to fuel its economic miracle but it failed to provide millions of immigrants and their descendants a place in their new society or a path to citizenship.

Berlin has looked to immigration as a viable solution to the country's demographic time-bomb — the native population is expected to shrink dramatically in the coming decades, posing serious problems for Europe's top economy.

The government’s show of unity Thursday was intended to end months of infighting and breathe life into Ms Merkel’s “We can do it\" mantra during the refugee crisis, which she has repeatedly said can also represent an opportunity for Germany.