Merkel holds integration summit

Nov 3, 2010, 13:40 GMT

Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel met Wednesday with more than 100 senior politicians and representatives of immigrant groups to discuss integration in Germany - in the wake of a bad-tempered and divisive debate over Muslims and multi-culturalism.

Around 120 people attended the integration summit at Merkel's Berlin office, including ministers, state premiers, business leaders, and ethnic minority groups.

Merkel herself declared explicitly last month that multi- culturalism had 'utterly failed' in Germany, as the country was wracked by a debate on integration, particularly by Muslims.

That uncharacteristically outspoken statement came after widespread political condemnation - but also some public support - for the former Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin.

Sarrazin, a former Social Democrat (SPD) politician, wrote a book Deutschland Schafft Sich Ab (Germany Does Away With Itself) complaining that Muslim immigrants made little effort to adopt to the German way of life, and were heavily dependent on welfare.

Sarrazin was forced to resign from the Bundesbank, but the debate he ignited still rumbles on in Germany.

Issues at Wednesday's summit were to include recent government initiatives compelling immigrants to attend integration courses, as well as the decision to categorize forced marriage as a specific criminal offence.

Merkel wants to establish a national plan of action within the next 12 months, setting clear goals relating to education and training, German language skills and employment rates of people from a migrant background.

The Federal Statistics Office says that about 16 million people living in Germany have a 'migrant background,' or just under 20 per cent of the population.

Of these, an estimated 4 million people are Muslims. The majority of these are of Turkish origin, after a guest worker programme encouraged manual labourers to Germany in the 1960s-70s.

Last month Merkel said the concept of multiculturalism, in which ethnic groups lived side by side, had 'utterly failed,' and said immigrants must do more to learn the German language, laws and values.

Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, Merkel's integration commissioner Maria Boehmer said too many children of migrant background were not completing their schooling, and often spoke insufficient German when they reached school age.

Germany's ageing population has led to a shortage of skilled workers, creating a demand for foreign labour.

Read more about Germany Politics

Read more about Migration