Germany is currently going through a noisy political debate on the integration of migrants. The funding for corresponding courses is low and has now been cut even further.

The issue of migrant integration is currently being highly debated in Germany. During his first public speech held on the 20^th anniversary of German Reunification, the new Federal President Christian Wulff placed this topic in central focus and highlighted the significance of integration courses for migrants and Islam classes in schools. This orientation in the speech on the anniversary of German unification was due to a current debate that is being heavily discussed in Germany at present. In his current book “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (Germany is doing away with itself), Thilo Sarrazin, a well-known and provoking politician, fairly unashamedly insulted Turks and other migrants as being unwilling to integrate and dangerous to the German society. Muslim migrants are costly and pose a danger: “Whoever proliferates more, will end up occupying Europe. Is that what we want?” Whole clans in Berlin have “a long tradition of fornication and correspondingly many disabilities”, something which is gladly suppressed: otherwise we may “conclude that genes are also responsible for the failure of large groups of the Turkish population in the German school system.” The book is number one in the Bestseller list and many conservatives both openly and secretly agree with these theories. However after publication, Sarrazin was forced to resign from his board position at Deutsche Bank.

Integration courses funded by the State

This topic has therefore caused a lot of agitation. Integration does not, however, appear in public debates; rather it arises in everyday local (educational) work. According to the law, all new immigrants are obligated to attend integration courses. This specifies a total of 600 hours of German language classes and 45 hours of cultural studies. 233 million euros are provided in total each year. These are carried out by local educational institutions who receive money for this and who have complained about the extremely poor funding since the courses began in 2005. Recently, participation for all those who have been living in Germany for a long time is also no longer possible due to the financial bottlenecks. Ulrich Thöne, Chairman of the Teachers and Scientists Union, clearly criticised the cutbacks: “It is a scandal that such a qualified activity is so lousily paid. With the reduction of grants, I am squeezing an already impossible situation even more. And this is done with the justification that there is no money there.”

Local projects

Along with this basic funding, integration projects in Germany are being financed, for example, via the programme “XENOS - Integration and diversity” (350 million euros, 2001-2014, co-financed by the European Social Fund – ESF). It promotes measures against exclusion and discrimination in the areas of business, administration, training, schools and qualification. The main focus is on youths and young adults whose access to schooling, training and employment is hindered. Local schools, churches, welfare organisations and associations are also major contributors. However, all are dependent on public funding that is still low despite many promises.