#377: Protestor wins deportation stay, influencer sentenced, cars
Dual citizenship is here to stay
Dear 20 Percent,
I’ve been terrified since Friedrich Merz (CDU) was effectively elected chancellor in February that dual citizenship was about to become illegal again.
His Merzness has complained about the practice more than once and I feared his rise to power would deny me of something I think Germany’s owed me for years (if not a decade) — citizenship without having to give up my US passport.
But I breathed a sigh of relief this week when the CDU and the SPD signed a contract to form what will be the fifth “grand coalition” of his conservative CDU and the center-left SPD and it left dual citizenship untouched. The SPD did have to move a little to the right to appease Freddy’s anti-immigrant beliefs, agreeing to require even the most integrated immigrants to live in the country for five years before applying for citizenship.
Those who worked to learn the language and act as German as possible — they presumably need to eat bread non-stop and school others acting improperly — had been allowed to apply after just three years in-country in last year’s immigration reform.
My own application is again stalled because I didn’t do as well on my C2 verbal exam as I wanted (OK, I failed) and I’ve been busy travelling with my other life. But now I don’t have to worry about having waited too long.
Can we just assume that I’ve wished y’all a good weekend instead of wishing you one, because I always do and will?
Andrew
One down, three to go
One of four pro-Palestinian protestors facing deportation won an even bigger victory than the dual citizenship decision this week — Shane O’Brien won a stay from a Berlin judge who said the Ausländerbehörde failed to fulfill its duties in agreeing to deport the 29-year-old Irish citizen April 21, according to the Tagesspiegel. A judge ruled that the agency should have requested the man’s file from prosecutors before following a request from the Berlin department of the interior to deport him — he’s being investigated for 17 different crimes at a number of pro-Palestinian protests in Berlin. The three other foreigners facing deportation — American Cooper Longbottom, Pole KasiaWlaszczyk (she wrote a piece for The Guardian) and Irish artist Roberta Murray — are also suing to remain but each case is being handled by a different judge based on … their last names, and they haven’t ruled yet. The judge said the Ausländerbehörde could actually deport people even if they haven’t been convicted of a crime but the agency has to at least know what the accused is accused of. Ergo: Shane could still be jettisoned from Germany.
Property damage, yes. Arson and assault, no
Even non-immigrant foreigners are racking up wins this week: A Palestinian influencer charged with grievous bodily harm, arson and property damage was sentenced to six months parole for property damage but was acquitted of the other charges on Wednesday after he fired a rocket into a Neukölln apartment on New Years, according to RBB24. He unfortunately already spent three months in a Berlin jail because he had been seen as a flight risk. He’s now free. The 23-year-old had been touring Germany and made a stop on New Years in the Hauptstadt and took part in the annual ritual of turning the city into a war zone. He filmed himself shooting the rocket into an apartment, where it damaged a rug and sofa, and then posted it on his Insta — it garnered 6 million views before outrage forced him to take it down. Prosecutors are appealing what they see as a light sentence because … I don’t know. Maybe they’re bored.
Only Joe
OK, this one isn’t directly about immigrants but the politician I’m about to talk about switched to the conservative CDU in 2016 from the environmentalist Die Grüne party because of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s (CDU) immigration policy: We were expecting to lose several top local politicians to Germany’s newest coalition because being a pol in Berlin means getting a bit more media attention than compatriots in, say, Rhineland-Palatinate. Former Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD), for example, was expected to join (she was already once family minister). But it looks like we’re going to lose just one to the big leagues: controversial culture minister and former record producer Joe Chialo (CDU). He’s headed for a high-ranking post in the federal culture ministry but will not become a cabinet minister, according to taz. Chialo was forced to swing the budget axe during his tenure as Berlin’s culture minister, making him unpopular with everyone creative.
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Factoid
Berliners appear to be increasingly eschewing cars, according to the 2023 Mobility Study from the Technical University of Dresden. The percentage of total trips taken by car fell to 22% last year from 30% in 2013 and the number of cars per household shrunk to 0.6 from 0.7 in 2018, a decline of 14%. But people continue to use bikes only for 18% of their trips and public transport use slipped to 26% from 27% in the same timeframe. The only winner: feet. 34% now from 30% then. That’s likely because of corona — the study showed people are actually taking fewer overall trips thanks to working from home.
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C2? Isn't the requirement for citizenship B1?
Yikes. I was also horrified when I read that you failed a C2 verbal test. You've been here for what, 20 years? I'm 58 years old. I've been here in Germany for 7 years. I'm barely capable of speaking at a B1 level. I don't want to be taking the exam when I'm 70!!!