German Chancellor Angela Merkel party wants dual nationality junked

Essen (Germany): Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party voted Wednesday to scrap dual nationality for German-born children of foreigners, setting it on a collision course with its junior coalition partner ahead of elections next year.

Allowing dual nationality was a key demand of the Social Democrats during negotiations with Ms Merkel’s conservatives after the last elections in 2013 that resulted in a hard-fought deal on teaming up in a left-right government.

The move mainly affects Turkish migrants, many of whom had come to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s to work but have stayed on and started families here. Before 2014, their children had to give up either their parents’ nationality or their German one by the age of 23.

Interior minister Thomas de Maiziere had warned during a heated debate on the motion put by the CDU’s youth wing that it would not be right to tear up a compromise with its governing partner.

“We don’t want to reverse that,” he said, adding that it was a blow for children of foreign origin at a time when the country is struggling with integration issues. He added that he saw no other party that might back any motion to overturn the double nationality rule. But the party rank and file voted narrowly, with 319 votes in favour and 300 against, to scrap the rule.

The decision quickly drew a rebuke from the SPD, with justice minister Heiko Maas saying that reversing the rule “would be a step backwards for integration”. European Union citizens are already permitted to hold both German citizenship and that of their country of origin.