Germany Topples EU Immigration Policy

In a last-ditch effort ahead of Thursday's completion of a draft EU constitution, Germany foiled European Union plans to pursue a common immigration policy when it secured the right for national governments to decide whether to give non-EU nationals access to member state labor markets.

"This is an important achievement for us," German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, a Green politician, said on Wednesday after the convention, of which he is a member, had agreed final changes to the draft EU constitution.

Germany, which has a history of blocking EU decisions on immigration policy, had been the only country to openly oppose plans to introduce majority voting by member state governments on immigration policy decisions.

The current draft, which will be discussed by EU member states until autumn, gives national governments the right to regulate access to their labor markets for immigrant workers. All other aspects of immigration and asylum policy, which previously also required unanimous decisions, will now fall under the majority voting rule.

While the issue had not come up during the convention's year-long negotiations, tension mounted in Germany ahead of the EU's summit in Greece last month, when the opposition parties urged Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, a Social Democrat, to secure a national veto on immigration policy decisions.

An all-party initiative subsequently culminated in a letter which Fischer and two fellow convention members wrote to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the president of the EU convention. "A satisfying solution of this issue is crucial for Germany with regard to the overall outcome of the convention," the letter stated.

Karl Kopp, European Union expert at Pro Asyl, a German human rights organization for refugees, criticized Germany's move: "It is particularly sad because it was backed by such a grand coalition, from Stoiber [the head of the Christian Social Union] to Fischer," he told F.A.Z. Weekly. "It is a major affront when a ‘grand European' like Fischer fights for reintroducing the national veto," Kopp said.

Peer Benke, general secretary of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, told F.A.Z. Weekly that "Some states want to keep the freedom to sharpen national legislation in order to deter refugees. However, we must recognize what has happened over the last years: One state introduces new legislation to deter refugees and very soon most other European states copy this. It is bad for the EU, bad for our values and worst of all has disastrous consequences for those who need protection in Europe."