Germany Welcomes Foreigners

Germany's Lower House passed a landmark overhaul of the country's blood-based 1913 citizenship law Friday, a move supporters say will aid the integration of foreign residents.

In a historic shift, the reform will cut the link between German blood ties and nationality by granting automatic citizenship to anyone born in the country. Critics have called the old law outdated and racist.

To win legislative support, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder watered down original plans to allow broad dual citizenship. The bill passed by 365-184 and was expected to clear the upper house later this month.

Debate over the plan has raged for months, straining Schroeder's center-left coalition and giving rise to a nationwide petition by conservative foes that has garnered some 5 million signatures.

Children born to Germany's more than 7 million foreign residents stand to benefit from the modernized rules, which acknowledge an increasingly multicultural nation. "We can allow ourselves a little more reality," declared Cem Ozdemir, a Green Party lawmaker whose parents left Turkey to work in Germany in the 1960s.

Foreign residents make up nearly 10 percent of Germany's population. The largest group, about 2 million, are Turks.

The new law, to take effect Jan. 1, allows children to hold both their parents' nationality and a German passport until age 23, when they would have to choose. Adults would be allowed to hold two passports only in rare hardship cases.

The period required for naturalization would be cut to eight years from 15. "This is a signal particularly to young people who are born here and grow up in our country that they belong, that they are part of our society," said Guido Westerwelle, a leader of the opposition Free Democrats, who brokered the legislative deal.

Citizenship reform was a major goal of the new government that took power last fall. But the result fell short of demands by Ozdemir and other Greens, the junior partners in Schroeder's coalition. At one point, Schroeder accused the Greens of pushing "minority issues."

Opponents of dual nationality staunchly reject turning Germany into what they call a "nation of immigrants" and argue the new law would hinder integration by leading to split loyalties.

In parliament today, the opposition charged the reform was not in tune with the popular mood and possibly unconstitutional.

"This bill only raises questions but doesn't solve a single problem," said Juergen Ruettgers of the Christian Democrats.