The vast majority of the foreign population meets their obligations and contributes to our prosperity and to our social security system.
They pay income tax and value-added tax, like the rest of us.
They too pay pension contributions and help finance the Federal Institute for Employment and the statutory Health Insurance Companies.
We do not need any artificial debates on whether Germany is an immigration country or an in-migration country.
We must not continue to pluck isolated issues from the discussion: today Islamic religion classes in schools, tomorrow green cards, then work permits for seasonal workers, or the treatment of refugees from civil wars.
We need a new perspective – we need to take a look at the whole.
We must free ourselves of our misconceptions and see the world as it is; we must take the necessary decisions, and go down new roads.
We need a fresh start to enable all people in Germany to live together in harmony – without fear and without illusions.
One thing must be clear at the start of any discussion: there is no such thing as "the foreigners" – there are only individual people.
People with their unique roots –
• whether a job-seeker from Anatolia,
• whether an ethnic German immigrant from a small village deep in Kazakhstan,
• whether someone fleeing persecution and torture in Sudan,
• whether a refugee from the destroyed towns and villages of Kosovo.
Each one has their own story, each one their dreams, each one has been molded by their culture and religion, each one has their own way of interacting with others.
As different as they may be, they all have one thing in common: each of them is looking for refuge or a new home in Germany – some voluntarily and some by force of circumstance, some for a transitional period only, but many for good.
III.
Leaving a homeland and adapting to a new culture is a story that has been repeated throughout history – in the history of Germany too. We therefore know that immigration and integration are not without their conflicts, that they do not happen automatically.
The migrations to Germany of the past centuries cannot of course be directly compared with the situation today. There are many aspects that require more time and quite a few things that are more difficult when people from very different cultural and religious backgrounds have to learn to live together.
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