Report on Citizenship Law: Germany Germany by inducing them to become German citizens. All German governments have declared that there is a public interest in the naturalisation of foreigners living permanently in Germany.6 There is no consensus, however, on the ways and conditions under which German citizenship should be acquired. The particular issue was the acquisition of German citizenship by birth on German territory, which introduced an element of ius soli into the German concept of citizenship and which has given rise to a heated controversy between the major political parties in recent years. An attempt was made in some of the Länder to solve the fundamental dilemma arising from the exclusion of a substantial part of the population from political rights by granting limited voting rights at a local level to foreigners. This failed due to the decision by the Federal Constitutional Court declaring such an attempt to be unconstitutional.7 The Court stated that the concept of democracy as laid down in the Basic Law does not permit a disassociation of political rights from the concept of nationality. Nationality therefore is the legal prerequisite for the acquisition of political rights, legitimising the exercise of all power in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Court, however, also stated that the only possible approach to solving the gap between the permanent population and democratic participation lies in changing the nationality law, for example, by facilitating the acquisition of German nationality by foreigners living permanently in Germany and thereby having become subject to German sovereignty in a manner comparable to German nationals. In the context of the general debate about Germany’s immigration policy and its factual change into an immigration country, pressure increased for a reform of German citizenship legislation. There were numerous proposals ranging from simplifying the naturalisation process and increasing the acceptance of multiple nationality to introducing a ius soli principle for third-generation foreigners born in Germany (Apel 1992: 99; Blumenwitz 1993: 151; Hobe 1994: 191; d’Oliveira 1990: 114; John 1991: 85; Löwer 1993: 156; Lübbe-Wolff 1996: 57; Mangoldt 1994: 33, Marx 1997: 67; Meireis 1994: 241; Münch 1994: 1199; Predeick 1991: 623; Renner 1994: 865; Schrötter & Möhlig 1995: 437). The Bundestag decided in 1990 to facilitate the acquisition of German citizenship for young foreigners aged sixteen to 23 to a substantial degree, provided that they renounced their previous citizenship, had lived permanently and lawfully in Germany for eight years, had attended school in Germany for at least six years and had not been prosecuted for a criminal offence. In addition, the acquisition of German citizenship for the first generation of recruited migrant workers was also facilitated substantially, provided that certain requirements were met: — legal habitual residence in Germany for fifteen years; — renunciation of previous nationality; — absence of criminal conviction; — ability to earn a living. Originally, facilitated naturalisation of young foreigners and of long-term residents was granted ‘as a rule’, i.e., administrative discretion was very limited. Another amendment in June 1993 changed these rules by establishing an individual right entitling every foreigner 6 See for example the statement of the Federal Government in: Bundestagsdrucksache (Official Records of the Bundestag), No. 10/2071, 3rd October 1984. 7 Decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court, vol. 83, p. 37, 59. 4 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/5- © 2020 Author(s)