The delay means the government’s landmark citizenship bill will no longer be passed this year.
The two centre-left parties in the coalition – the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens – had wanted to put the landmark citizenship law on the Bundestag agenda for this week but had failed to do so due to arguments with the Free Democrats (FDP).
According to DPA news agency, the FDP was resisting the amendment suggestions of its two coalition partners with a sticking point understood to be about giving citizenship to non-EU citizens who have claimed benefits in the past.
The SPD is understood to be pushing for disabled people, single parents and the relatives of carers to be granted exceptions to the rule after the draft law was criticised by Germany’s commissioner for disabled people.
SPD parliamentarian Hakan Demir told the Bundestag that “negotiations about the naturalisation reform must continue.”
On the other hand, FDP politician Konstantin Kuhle emphasised the party’s desire to “align nationality law more closely with economic integration and to make the criteria of not relying on benefits even stricter.
Extending migratory detention for rejected asylum seekers given an order to leave is another sticking point.
“The FDP is not ready to dilute the expectations of the states and municipalities” Kuhle said.
The coalition wants to ensure that deportations no longer fail at the last moment, a frequent occurence, for example because those affected cannot be found.
With this week representing the last week of parliament before the winter recess, the delays mean that the bill will now be pushed back until next year.
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It means additional delays for foreigners who have been waiting for the forthcoming liberalisation of citizenship rules, including allowing the holding of multiple nationalities and permitting naturalisation after just five years of residence in the country, or three years in cases of special integration.
The coalition partners met earlier this week for an emergency summit after their spending plans for 2023 and 2024 were thrown into disarray by a constitutional court ruling that found elements of their budget to be unconstitutional.
This fiscal wrangling meant that crucial time in the remaining parliamentary session was lost.
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What an inflated sense of self-worth these guys have. Spending months on the people they perceive to be as immigrants, in the meantime, skilled immigrants will pack their bags and head elsewhere.