Germany: Immigration Issues Impact Election
As Germany’s national election heads for a photo finish, one group of voters has become an important factor – Turkish immigrants. A recent change in Germany’s citizenship law made it easier for many Turkish “guest workers” to naturalize. About 350,000 Germans of Turkish origin are eligible to vote Sunday. While that figure represents only 1% of the electorate, the Turkish voting population is about three times as large as it was at the last election.
“The politicians want to reach Turkish voters,” said Ahmet Kuelahci of Huerriyet, the largest Turkish-language newspaper in Germany. “It’s the first time they’ve really paid so much attention to us,” he said.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s Socialist-Green coalition expects strong support from ethnic Turkish voters who favor his pro-immigration policies. Schroeder’s challenger, Edmund Stoiber, has opposed the new naturalization law and has fought against Turkey’s efforts to join the EU. Stoiber’s Bavarian government once deported a German-born juvenile delinquent of Turkish parents to Turkey, a country the boy had never set foot in.
Though immigration had played a starring role in previous Stoiber campaigns, the Bavarian politician had dropped the topic from his agenda until recently, when opinion polls showed he had lost his slight edge over the Social Democrats.
Boat Wreck Off Italian Coast Claims Lives of 33 Migrants
Italians on the coast of southern Sicily have recovered the bodies of 33 migrants who were part of a boat tragedy last weekend. A small fishing boat with an estimated 130 Liberian migrants sank just 200 yards off Sicily’s coast during a storm, and around 90 of them were rescued from the water by boats and helicopters.
Accidents like this are common, with thousands of illegal immigrants head to Italy every month, most traveling by boats that are barely seaworthy from North Africa, Eastern Europe and Turkey. In March, at least 50 people were killed in the sea south of Sicily.
Italy’s conservative government has enacted tough legislation to try to stem the tide of immigrants, but figures from the Interior Ministry show the flood of immigrants has only increased this year, up 30%.
Far-right politicians argue the new laws, which step up coastal patrols and give police greater powers to monitor and board suspect boats, are not being enforced aggressively enough. But opposition groups say these deaths show how little the government understands the problem.
Europe Offers “Simplified” Passport to Russians From Kaliningrad
The European Commission has proposed to extend an offer to Russian residents of Kaliningrad giving them a “simplified travel document” allowing direct trips across European territory to Russia. The offer comes in response to a proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
If approved by EU governments, the proposal could defuse a tense situation with Moscow that threatened to overshadow an EU-Russia summit scheduled later this year in Copenhagen.
The passes would be issued by consulates of Lithuania and Poland, but only to individuals on a list of frequent travelers provided by Russia. Lithuania and Poland would retain the right to reject applicants.
Kaliningrad, located nearly 250 miles from Russia, was taken from Germany by Soviet troops in 1945.
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