Feel-good measures, nothing more.

Submitted by Pat (United States), Jan 3, 2006 at 19:21

At first glance, these seem like constructive measures until you realize that they are pointless.
So people are going to be interviewed? They'll know what to say to assuage any doubts about their fitness to be in German society. People are very good at hiding their personal views when it's in their interest to do so.

Muslims who emigrate to Ireland must swear not to marry more than one wife? Doesn't Ireland have marriage laws? Don't those laws apply equally to all citizens? I thought Europe was totally secular.

The idea that people might lose their citizenship if they act in a manner that is inconsistent with their expressed views sounds promising, but then, two paragraphs later, the interior minister talks about violence-prone Islamists who can't be expelled to their native countries because of the threat of torture faced there. So the interests of violent foreigners are placed above those of peaceful Germans and other Europeans. (Doesn't the EU structure give anyone who is allowed to stay in Germany carte blanche to travel throughout the EU?)

These proposals sound like a sop to the German people, but political correctness will prevent any meaningful changes until Germany itself comes under attack.

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