Open Letter to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel on occasion of the Integration Summit of the Federal Government on July 14, 2006 in Berlin 

From Feleknas Uca, André Brie, Helmuth Markov and Gabi Zimmer

 

Dear Dr. Merkel,

Apparently, there is a need for tragic events before the Federal government decides to act:  murders of honour, attacks against foreigners or violence at schools do not yet exist since 2006, yet by the most recent events such as the murder of honour of Hatun Sürücü or the cry of help of the Berlin Rütli School, apparently the need for action was now recognised also at the highest political level. 

We welcome your idea of an integration summit. In the same vein, we support the call by the CDU/CSU fraction chairman, Volker Kauder, to finally take integration policy seriously again. 

However, we are of the opinion that it is not sufficient to fight the symptoms hectically now and on the surface, without discussing the origins of the problem. Integration demands a lot more than the interdiction of murders of honour, more severe punishment of attempts at foreigners or restoring the order at schools with the help of the police. The prerequisite for successful synergies between the society of reception and that of the immigrants is the acceptance of cultural differences on BOTH sides. The slogan of the European Union “Unity in Diversity” should be taken to heart once more by the Federal Republic if it is a matter of the integration of people from other countries and cultural realms. 

The most important step towards successful integration is a command of the language of the country one lives in. Not only in order to participate in social and cultural life, but mainly also to be able to keep up in school. Language deficits among migrant children are often the reason for inadequate school performance and in their wake lack of professional qualification, which strongly hinders integration and participation. For that reason, help in language acquisition to children is certainly one of the most important tasks. But also the social and legal aspects must be debated. 

We criticise the preparation of the integration summit and the choice of the participants following unclear criteria. This raises our fear that this is a matter of a one-time alibi event at which already prepared concepts are simply agreed upon. The representatives of all participating social groups are only listened to, yet they obviously have no influence on the decisions. In order to call to life a credible and democratic event, a competition between migrant organisations would have been conceivable where they could have submitted concepts for an emancipative integration policy. 

The report by the media has clearly shown that the selective criteria for a participation at the integration summit were unclear, which meant that quite a few organisations of migrants distanced themselves from the event already before the event. 

It would be extremely regrettable if your idea of an integration summit, good in principle, would turn out after all to have been a mere show, which would lead us to question the seriousness of the intentions you formulated quite emphatically. 

We see in the integration summit an introductory event serving to establish a regular dialogue between government and representatives of civil society. We hope very much that we can lend credence to the words of the state minister for integration, Maria Böhmer, and that there will form, as a result of the summit, work teams on the topics of education, labour market, civil society commitment and integration at the level of the communities who deal intensive with concepts for effective integration and develop targeted measures. On that point, we would wish for a really representative staffing of these work groups so that the interests of all concerned can be taken into account and represented in the same way. 

It is the task of the government, dear Chancelloress, to realise what is enshrined in the Basic Law: equal right for all people living in Germany, independently of origin, looks and culture. That also means equal chances of education and life for women and men migrants. 

With the integration summit you are on the correct track if you use it as a chance for a change of paradigms in integration policy and take care that we address questions of migrant policy seriously also in the medium and long term. Make something of it! 

We wish you a lot of success. 

Best regards 

Feleknas Uca, MEP - Gabi Zimmer, MEP - André Brie, MEP - Helmuth Markov, MEP