Participation is indispensable

Despite rumblings to the contrary, the German government’s integration policies are working. I wish more attention were given to examples of successful integration, where the people affected feel part of a community. For these success stories do exist – in their thousands. All we have to do is listen and let them inspire us.

Political participation: The driving force behind integration

With our new Nationality Act, which permits multiple citizenships, we have reached an important milestone on the path towards a modern immigration society. After all, citizenship goes hand in hand with the right to vote, something that far too many people were deprived of in the past, despite some having lived in Germany for decades. Now their opinions will finally carry more political weight.

Participation is fundamental and, I believe, indispensable, otherwise people will leave again, faster than we would like. Plus, it signals to people that this is their country, too, and they should be involved in shaping it. One of the next steps must therefore be to pass the law on participation. The idea of a “council for participation” underscores my vision of a country where the members of society in all their diversity have a voice. This is not merely a case of a participation law or council for participation simply being nice to have; they are actually a must if we are to achieve our goal of being a diverse society, including at the political level.

The workplace as a site of integration

Alongside these higher-level factors, integration in the workplace is instrumental, too. As legislators, it is up to us to create the infrastructure needed to provide everyone with the same opportunities when they begin a new job. With this in mind, companies, employees and their representation bodies are called on to work together, be that through in-house mentoring programmes or intercultural training sessions for entire workforces. One of our tasks will be to develop relevant programmes that are attractive, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Not only do such initiatives serve to foster communication with new members of staff; they also play an important role when it comes to the existing workforce. Empathy from and for all concerned is the key skill here.

Trade unions and welfare associations are already supporting foreign workers and companies. An additional cornerstone for the future could comprise local-level coalitions of employers and employees (social partners), trade unions and companies which, drawing on the principle of a cooperative, are then able to support the integration infrastructure in the municipalities.

Integration of women into the labour market

It goes without saying that we must not consider every immigrant woman as a mere “appendage” to her husband. Many women also have vocational or academic qualifications as well as work experience. Germany provides many opportunities for women to secure well-paid employment, too. Especially when it comes to business enterprises, I would like to see them demonstrate more openness and show the requisite flexibility towards women and their families. With this in mind, I would appeal to business managers to serve as “enablers” for people with families.

Language and integration courses must be compatible with the realities of women’s day-to-day lives. We are constantly asking people to adapt to “the system”, but we should and can show them a certain degree of flexibility which may well lead to the successful completion of such courses. Providing supplementary childcare at the course location is an important factor here, as is the option of all-day schooling. Adjusting course times and to some extent also course timetables could help give women the time they need to learn.

Making labour immigration more efficient

At the bureaucratic level, it is essential that we streamline and speed up the official recognition processes for foreign qualifications and professional experience. With the adoption of the revised Skilled Labour Immigration Act in 2023 we have already cleared the first hurdles and we will now gradually start to see the impact of this step. The recognition procedures are sometimes unclear, meaning that immigrants entering the country often cannot embark on the requisite adaptation training for some time.

The fact that women immigrants in particular tend to end up in low-skilled jobs has dramatic long-term consequences for them, exposing them to massive risk of poverty in old age. This is why I will continue to advocate an increase in the minimum wage as well as a general coverage of collective bargaining agreements. With the support of the trade unions, we have been fighting for years against the exploitation and wage dumping that foreign workers are subject to. Uniform and transparent collective wage agreements would also prevent employees from being played off against one another.

Integration: A social-democratic duty

I strongly believe that social democracy will be the driving force in shaping future integration issues. Our solidarity with those who have it harder than us or sometimes lose their footing is our greatest strength. We need to listen better to the communities and involve them more directly in our work. We can achieve this by breaking down the longstanding structures, including within the SPD itself, reducing the barriers to participation for people with an international background and giving those “affected” the space to make their voices heard.

I will never tire of emphasising that integration is not a one-way street. We must therefore ask ourselves as a society, but also explicitly as a party, what we can do to help people achieve successful integration. When will we finally be ready to accept them? This remains a process of negotiation, and it would be my wish to see the criteria in this process no longer determined solely on a unilateral basis. This includes recognising the reality that in large parts of our society, “being German” has long since also meant being Afro-German, German-Turkish or Viet-German.  And while political circles continue to debate its feasibility, this has already been a successfully lived reality in many parts of Germany for a long time.

A social-democratic future

Social democracy draws its strength from the fact that it recognises and accepts the diversity of lifeworlds that are part of our society. We have always been open to those who wish to develop and implement new ambitions and ideas, indeed sometimes even utopian visions of a strong community underpinned by solidarity. In light of this, I think that, on the one hand, the SPD will shape the future of integration, but on the other, successful integration will also influence the future of the party. Social democracy itself will (and must) become more diverse if it is to continue to exist and be able to actively shape how we wish to live together in the future.