By EUDO CITIZENSHIP co-director Rainer Bauböck

After a very narrow victory for a party coalition of Socialdemocrats and Greens in recent elections in Lower Saxony, Sigmar Gabriel, the SPD’s chancellor candidate for the next federal elections, announced that in case of a victory he would introduce the general toleration of dual citizenship.

Currently, German law tolerates dual citizenship unconditionally only when acquired by birth from one parent of German and one of foreign citizenship or for EU citizens naturalising in Germany. Persons with two foreign parents who have acquired their German citizenship by birth in German territory must renounce a foreign citizenship before their 23th birthday in order to retain their German citizenship. In about 50% of all naturalisations in Germany, renunciation of a foreign citizenship is not enforced if this would create an unreasonable burden for the applicant. However, only 15% of Turkish citizens are allowed to retain their citizenship of origin when becoming Germans.

A change in German citizenship law would have to be passed by majorities in both chambers of parliament. After the elections in Lower Saxony, Socialdemocrats and Greens have won a majority in the federal chamber (Bundesrat) but still lack a majority in the popular chamber (Bundestag). Current opinion polls see Chancellor Angela Merkel clearly ahead of her socialdemocratic challenger. Her capacity to form a new coalition government after federal elections scheduled for September 2013 may depend on whether her coalition partner FDP will make it again into parliament.

Read the news report in WAZ.