expatriation
CDU wants to take away the passports of dual nationals who commit “serious crimes”.
Until now, expatriation was only supposed to be possible in the event of terrorism. The CDU is now sharpening its position considerably. This emerges from a paper for the closed meeting.
This requirement is tough. The CDU apparently wants to take away the German passports of German citizens with two passports if they commit “serious crimes”. This is what it says in a draft of a security paper entitled “For a policy change in internal security,” which the party’s federal executive board wants to adopt in Hamburg at the weekend. The paper is there star before.
The draft literally says: “If people commit serious crimes and we realize that we made a mistake with naturalization, it must be possible for dual nationals to have their German citizenship revoked.” This should particularly apply to terrorism and extremism, but not only.
Expatriation of dual nationals not in the election program
The CDU is thus significantly tightening its position. In the election program, which was only adopted in mid-December, the possible revocation of citizenship was still limited to supporting terrorist organizations. What the term “serious crimes” means remains unclear in the new paper.
Typically, “serious crimes” are those that result in a prison sentence of more than a year and violate basic rules of coexistence. This can include sexual abuse, murder, child robbery or serious arson, but also forgery, bribery, coercion or fraud.
Friedrich Merz started the debate himself
Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz started the debate about this with an interview at the beginning of the year. In it he said, referring to the attack in Magdeburg: “In order to avoid attacks or further crimes, foreign criminals must be deported after the second offense at the latest.”
For people with a German passport, Merz added: “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.” Obviously, this should now apply not only in cases of terrorism, but also in serious crimes in general.
Almost three million people in Germany have dual citizenship. 70 percent of them have the citizenship of another country in the European Union. This has been possible since 2007.
The traffic light government’s citizenship law, which will come into force in 2024, should in future allow people of all nations to retain their old citizenship upon naturalization. In the future, if they commit serious crimes, they would all be at risk of losing their German passport – in addition to the punishment.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
