Citizenship law: Merz wants to denaturalize delinquent dual nationals

With a proposal for a reform of nationality law, CDU chairman Friedrich Merz has antagonized leading representatives of the Greens and SPD. “Friedrich Merz is consciously playing with the right-wing populist fire and is not suitable as chancellor for all Germans,” said SPD leader Saskia Esken to “Stern”.

The Union’s candidate for chancellor said in an interview with “Welt am Sonntag” that the dual citizenship decided by the traffic light coalition should not be the norm, but should be limited to justified exceptional cases in the future. Merz continued: “We are bringing additional problems into the country.” And: “It should at least be possible to revoke German citizenship at the same level if we recognize that we have made a mistake when it comes to people committing crimes.”

Two-class society when it comes to citizenship?

These demands would “turn naturalized people into second-class citizens,” criticized Esken. The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, sees it similarly. He wrote on the LinkedIn network that this proposal was a “breaking dam” and “would lead to a two-class society in terms of citizenship.” Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) told the “Rheinische Post”: “The Union is apparently relying on populism and ignoring the facts.”

Green Party leader Felix Banaszak said: “There should not be on-demand citizenship for anyone.” During the election campaign, the Union should not give the impression “that it wants to undermine such fundamental pillars of our law.”

Last June, the reform of nationality law approved by the traffic light coalition came into force. According to this, people who work in Germany and are well integrated can become German citizens after just five years instead of the previous eight. You no longer need to give up your previous citizenship. Particularly well-integrated foreigners can be naturalized after just three years. At the same time, the requirements for commitment to the free democratic basic order were tightened.

The number of people who became German through naturalization was higher than ever before, with around 194,000 naturalizations in 2023. The fact that this trend increased in 2024 is because many Syrians and other foreigners who came to Germany in 2015 and 2016 now meet the requirements for naturalization. Another factor is the new nationality law.

In the interview, Merz was asked about possible consequences of the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg. Shortly before Christmas, a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia raced through the market in a car. So far six people have died, a nine-year-old boy and five women between the ages of 45 and 75. There were also almost 300 injured.

“We are interested in examining an expansion of the offenses for the loss of German citizenship for people with dual nationality who have committed multiple serious criminal offenses and therefore pose a threat to security in our country,” said a CDU spokesman when asked . That was also the topic of the interview. Merz and the CDU are “not concerned with people who have two passports and have been living peacefully in our country for years.”

Germany does not release anyone into statelessness

In 2019, the black-red coalition extended the deadline for revoking illegal naturalizations from five to ten years. This affects people who have provided false information about their identity.

Two terrorist fighters expatriated

Since the reform of 2019, anyone who takes part in combat operations abroad for a terrorist organization can also lose their German passport. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, this has happened in two cases since then.

Even before the reform at that time, the nationality law provided for the loss of German citizenship if a German who also has another citizenship voluntarily joins the armed forces of another state without the approval of the German authorities. In principle, the withdrawal of German citizenship is only possible for people who are still citizens of another country.