(de-news.net) – In the aftermath of the recent public discourse concerning urban aesthetics and a historic surge in naturalizations during the year 2024 — amounting to 292,000 cases, with individuals of Syrian origin constituting approximately 28 percent — leading personalities within the CDU and the CSU have increasingly expressed reservations regarding the continued legitimacy of dual citizenship in Germany. According to press reports, the said political representatives have advocated for a significant policy shift whereby dual citizenship would no longer be the norm but rather an exceptional provision in future naturalization procedures. Furthermore, they have called for the expedited revocation of German nationality in instances involving dual nationals who have committed serious criminal offenses.
According to media accounts, Stephan Mayer, a member of the Bundestag representing the CSU, urged that individuals holding dual citizenship who are found guilty of grave criminal acts or who demonstrate hostility toward the foundational democratic values of the Federal Republic of Germany should be subject to immediate denaturalization. He is said to have questioned whether the country could continue to sustain a broadly permissive stance on dual citizenship and emphasized the necessity of a comprehensive reform of the existing citizenship legislation.
In a similar vein, Roman Poseck, the CDU’s Minister of the Interior for the state of Hesse, reportedly proposed that authorities examine the feasibility of revoking German citizenship from individuals who maintain affiliations with the Palestinian organization Hamas. He argued that such associations are fundamentally incompatible with Germany’s constitutional principles and therefore warrant legal scrutiny. Echoing this position, CDU parliamentarian Cornell Babendererde, who holds responsibility for citizenship policy within the Union’s parliamentary group, maintained that dual citizenship should remain an exception rather than a standard practice. She expressed concern over the apparent lack of national identification among newly naturalized citizens, noting that a substantial proportion of them opted to retain their original nationality, which, in her view, raises questions about the depth of their integration and allegiance to the German state.
Conversely, representatives of the Green Party have issued strong criticisms of the CDU/CSU’s proposed measures. Omid Nouripour, Vice President of the Bundestag and a prominent Green Party figure, reportedly contended that the CDU was engaging in symbolic political maneuvering that risks undermining public confidence, rather than addressing substantive challenges related to national security and social integration. Additionally, Filiz Polat, the parliamentary secretary of the Green Party, is said to have characterized the initiative as a covert and calculated effort to reverse the progress made in dual citizenship policy. She argued that the proposal represents a diversion from previous political missteps and warned that such measures could jeopardize social cohesion and inadvertently bolster the influence of extremist political factions.
