Berlin markets citizenship to young immigrants

[Kellanved]

BERLIN - The Berlin Senate has launched a campaign aimed at encouraging young immigrants to take German citizenship.

"We want to strengthen the young people's feeling of belonging and encourage them, through receiving German citizenship, to actively participate in social decision-making processes," said the commissioner for integration and migration, Günter Piening, in remarks quoted by the Berlin daily Die Welt.

In Berlin, as in the rest of Germany, the numbers of immigrants applying for German citizenship has dropped in recent years. Even when they had the right to naturalisation, many immigrants did not see the necessity to apply for German citizenship as the procedure was seen as long-winded and complicated.




In districts of the capital such as Mitte, Neukölln or Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, around a quarter of the population does not have German citizenship. As citizenship is tied to voting rights, "this group cannot promote their interests," said Piening.

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