Government & Politics

Is migration the EU’s biggest challenge in 2024? Few topics were as influential in shaping social discourse last year as migration. It's likely to dominate the EU's agenda again in the new year.

(Deutsche Welle) The number of asylum applications to the European Union has risen over the past two years. While there were just under 1 million in 2022, the European Union Agency for Asylum has predicted that this mark could now have hit […]

Government & Politics

Germany’s CDU redefines stance on Islam in new manifesto Under Friedrich Merz, Germany's Christian Democratic Union is revising its manifesto, sparking controversy with its new stance on Islam and migration. The party's new direction marks a departure from the Merkel era.

(Deutsche Welle) The new color scheme a few months back was only a cosmetic step. Now, Germany’s center-right Christian Democrats are going under the hood. For the first time since 2007, the party that ruled Germany for most of the republic’s young […]

Citizenship

Germany: CDU fears Islamist bloc as millions of Turkish migrants to be granted voting rights Progressive plans to naturalise millions of migrants, many of them Turkish, [are] unsettling German conservatives as Turkey continues its collision course with the West.

(European Conservative) New German citizenship laws that expand voting rights to up to 2.5 million recent migrants are unnerving even the usually complacent CDU, with one conservative lawmaker airing fears that the new arrangement could enable a potential Islamist bloc to attain […]

Government & Politics

Macron calls for European plan to manage Afghan migration French president says ‘we must anticipate and protect ourselves against major irregular migratory flows.’

(Politico) France and Germany will push for a European plan to tackle migration flows from Afghanistan as people flee the Taliban’s control, Emmanuel Macron said Monday evening. “We must anticipate and protect ourselves against major irregular migratory flows that would endanger those […]

Government & Politics

Migration fears complicate Europe’s response to Afghanistan crisis As the Taliban took control of the country, there were chaotic scenes at Kabul airport as hundreds tried to flee.

(Politico) For Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban takeover of their country, Europe had — at best — mixed messages to offer. As the evacuation from Kabul airport grew increasingly chaotic Monday, with footage emerging of Afghans attempting to cling to a departing […]

Government & Politics

German government agrees to ban Hamas flag after antisemitic incidents The German government wants to send a message to Jewish citizens after several antisemitic incidents took place amid pro-Palestinian protests last month.

(Deutsche Welle) All parties in Germany’s grand coalition government have agreed to ban the flag of Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper said in a report published Sunday. The move comes after several antisemitic incidents occurred last month in […]

Demographics

Muslims in Germany: Religion not a good gauge of integration A study shows that the number of Muslims in Germany has significantly risen compared to 2015 and many still face challenges in employment and education. But religion may only be a minor cause of these challenges.

(Deutsche Welle) “Wir schaffen das” — “We can do it.” Those were the now-famous words that German Chancellor Angela Merkel used in 2015 to indicate that Germany was prepared and able to take in a large number of refugees — ultimately around […]

Government & Politics

Germany: Conservatives seek to isolate Islamist groups Germany's governing conservative bloc is planning to cut all government ties with groups suspected of supporting political Islamism, according to a report in Die Welt. Large Muslim umbrella organizations may be affected.

(Deutsche Welle) The parliamentary group of Germany’s ruling conservative bloc has called for an end to cooperation with groups suspected of supporting political Islamism, the newspaper Die Welt reported on Tuesday. The bloc, made up of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and […]

Children & Teens

Germany brings home ‘Islamic State’ brides, children from Syrian camps Humanitarian reasons have been cited for flying home several 'IS' brides and children from internment in Syria. At the height of the civil war, the women allegedly traveled to join the Islamist militia.

(Deutsche Welle) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday said he was “relieved” that a “humanitarian” recovery operation had brought home 18 children and five “Islamic State” (IS) brides from Kurdish-run internment camps in northeastern Syria. One of three German women brought back, identified in reports as […]

Crime

German minister wants ‘criminals’ expelled to Syria, despite asylum safeguards Interior Minister Horst Seehofer wants Germany's general ban on deportations to war-torn Syria weakened to return persons deemed criminal or dangerous. Rights groups accuse him of pandering to the far right.

(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s current general deportation stop to Syria should not be extended, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Friday, urging that individual case-by-case decisions be made “at least for criminals and those considered a threat.” In 2012, Germany passed a ban on […]