BERLIN: Germany is expected on Friday to approve a law that shortens the path to citizenship and makes it easier to hold multiple nationalities, moves designed to ease crippling labor shortages by making the country more attractive to migrant workers.
The new law, a signature policy of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition of centrist and left-leaning parties, comes as Germany is convulsed by rows over the burden that migration is placing on public services at a time when money is scarce.
“We have to keep pace in the race to attract skilled labor,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser ahead of the vote in the Bundestag that will pass the new law.
“That means we need to make an offer to qualified people from the world over, just as the United States and Canada do. German citizenship is obviously part of that.”
Under the new rules, citizenship will be available after five years’ residence, reduced from eight, in line with neighboring countries such as France. For people who are “exceptionally well integrated,” three years will be enough.
Rules on dual nationality, now normally allowed only for citizens of other EU countries, would be loosened. That would potentially let tens of thousands of Turks, including third-generation immigrants, become voting members of German society after their parents and grandparents contributed to the country’s post-war reconstruction.
The measure passes as parties compete with each other to offer voters tougher lines on immigration, promising more rapid deportations of illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers, in a bid to contain the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has been surging in the polls amid a weak economy and frustrations over public services.
The opposition conservatives, who oppose the new rules, have moved an amendment in parliament demanding a stop to the changes in order to “preserve the value of German citizenship.” The AfD says there should be no right to acquire German citizenship, which should be only a favor granted by the government.
A reform has long been demanded by progressives who say citizenship law must acknowledge the reality that Germany has been an ethnically diverse multicultural society since guest workers from Italy and Turkiye first arrived to ease labor shortages in the very early 1960s.
Labour-hungry Germany to ease citizenship path despite migration rows
https://arab.news/y67fn
Labour-hungry Germany to ease citizenship path despite migration rows
- The new law comes as Germany is convulsed by rows over the burden that migration is placing on public services at a time when money is scarce
- “We have to keep pace in the race to attract skilled labor,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser
World welcomes 2026 with fireworks after year of turmoil
- Australia holds defiant celebrations after its worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years
- Hong Kong holds a subdued event after a deadly fire in tower blocks
PARIS, France: People around the globe toasted the end of 2025 on Wednesday, bidding farewell to one of the hottest years on record, packed with Trump tariffs, a Gaza truce and vain hopes for peace in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin used his traditional New Year address to tell his compatriots their military “heroes” would deliver victory in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, while his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was “10 percent” away from a deal to end the fighting.
Earlier, New Year celebrations took on a somber tone in Sydney as revellers held a minute of silence for victims of the Bondi Beach shooting before nine tons of fireworks lit up the harbor city at the stroke of midnight.
Seeing in the New Year in Moscow, Natalia Spirina, a pensioner from the central city of Ulyanovsk, said that in 2026 she hoped for “our military operation to end as soon as possible, for the guys to come home and for peace and stability to finally be established in Russia.”
Over the border in Vyshgorod, Ukrainian beauty salon manager Daria Lushchyk said the war had made her work “hell” — but that her clients were still coming regardless.
“Nothing can stop our Ukrainian girls from coming in and getting themselves glam,” Lushchyk said.
Back in Sydney, heavily armed police patrolled among hundreds of thousands of people lining the shore barely two weeks after a father and son allegedly opened fire on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting for almost 30 years.
Parties paused for a minute of silence an hour before midnight, with the famed Sydney Harbor Bridge bathed in white light to symbolize peace.
Pacific nations including Kiribati and New Zealand were the first to see in 2026, with Seoul and Tokyo following Sydney in celebrations that will stretch to glitzy New York via Scotland’s Hogmanay festival.
More than two million people are expected to pack Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach for what authorities have called the world’s biggest New Year’s Eve party.
In Hong Kong, a major New Year fireworks display planned for Victoria Harbor was canceled in homage to 161 people killed in a fire in November that engulfed several apartment blocks.
Truce and tariffs
This year has brought a mix of stress and excitement for many, war for others still — and offbeat trends, with Labubu dolls becoming a worldwide craze.
Thieves plundered the Louvre in a daring heist, and K-pop heartthrobs BTS made their long-awaited return.
The world lost pioneering zoologist Jane Goodall, the Vatican chose a new, American, pope and the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk laid bare America’s deep political divisions.
Donald Trump returned as US president in January, launching a tariff blitz that sent global markets into meltdown.
Trump used his Truth Social platform to lash out at his sliding approval ratings ahead of midterm elections to be held in November.
“Isn’t it nice to have a STRONG BORDER, No Inflation, a powerful Military, and great Economy??? Happy New Year!” he wrote.
After two years of war that left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins, US pressure helped land a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October — though both sides have accused each other of flagrant violations.
“We bid farewell to 2025 with deep sorrow and grief,” said Gaza City resident Shireen Al-Kayali. “We lost a lot of people and our possessions. We lived a difficult and harsh life, displaced from one city to another, under bombardment and in terror.”
In contrast, there was optimism despite abiding internal challenges in Syria, where residents of the capital Damascus celebrated a full year since the fall of Bashar Assad.
“There is no fear, the people are happy, all of Syria is one and united, and God willing ... it will be a good year for the people and the wise leadership,” marketing manager Sahar Al-Said, 33, told AFP against a backdrop of ringing bells near Damascus’s Bab Touma neighborhood.
“I hope, God willing, that we will love each other. Loving each other is enough,” said Bashar Al-Qaderi, 28.
Sports, space and AI
In Dubai, thousands of revellers queued for up to nine hours for a spectacular fireworks and laser display at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
After a build-up featuring jet skis and floating pianos on an adjacent lake, a 10-minute burst of pyrotechnics and LED effects lit up the needle-shaped, 828-meter tall (2,717-feet) tower.
The coming 12 months promise to be full of sports, space and questions over artificial intelligence.
NASA’s Artemis II mission, backed by tech titan Elon Musk, will launch a crewed spacecraft to circle the moon during a 10-day flight, more than 50 years since the last Apollo lunar mission.
After years of unbridled enthusiasm, AI is facing scrutiny and nervous investors are questioning whether the boom might now resemble a market bubble.
Athletes will gather in Italy in February for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
And for a few weeks in June and July, 48 nations will compete in the biggest football World Cup in history in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
