Immigration Debate Back on the Election Agenda

Germany's conservative opposition Union block is energetically denying claims it is trying to use the hot-button issue of immigration as a desperate last-ditch effort to attract voters who, according to most polls, it has been shedding by the thousands during recent weeks.

Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber, who is running as the joint chancellor candidate for the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, had largely left the sensitive issue of immigration untouched during the campaign, seeking to moderate his hard-right image. But he took it up with new vigor on Monday morning.

"It (immigration) has always played a role and, naturally, it will play the same kind of role during the final weeks," Stoiber said, "because with our more than four million unemployed (in Germany) we can't accept the fact that the recruitment stop has, in general, been repealed, and immigration has been made possible without regard to the labor market."

In March, the German government passed its first-ever immigration bill, which sought to limit the number of foreigners entering the country to work while at the same time making it easier for highly qualified high-tech workers to immigrate. Both the CDU and CSU lobbied hard against the legislation, and they ahve since pledged to amend the law if they take control of parliament.

New CDU/CSU Immigration Plan

On Monday, Bavarian Interior Minister Günter Beckstein and the premier of the state of Saarland, Peter Müller, presented a seven-point program which they said the parties would seek to immediately pass if they obtain a majority in the German parliament after this Sunday's federal election.

"We want to reduce immigration from non-EU countries to a level that our society can handle," Beckstein said. He said the party also wated to reduce the number of immigrants eligible to participate in Germany's social system and combat abuse of the country's asylum laws.

The Union bloc says it wants to reintroduce former federal regulations that made it difficult for immigrants to work in Germany and to introduce rules making it easier to expedite the deportation of asylum seekers whose applications are rejected by the government.

Saarland Premier Müller said his party wants to promote improved integration of Germany's existing immigrants rather than opening doors for new ones. He accused the red-green government, comprised of Social Democrats and Greens, of letting more foreigners in "without consideration for integration."

Sign of Desperation?

The Green Party immediately criticized the Union bloc's new tack, saying it was running a campaign on the "backs of fellow citizens who are foreigners."

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, whose Social Democrats have opened up a two- to three-point lead over the conservatives, said bringing up the immigration issue was a sign of "dispair."

"We already passed an immigration law that allows for the control and limiting of immigration," Schröder said. "This is a desperate attempt to find a topic with which one can arouse emotions, but I think the public will see through it."

Analysts said the hot-button topic might alienate middle-of-the-road voters, but could score Stoiber points in some quarters.

"The conservatives just might succeed in tapping into anti-immigrant sentiment," Klaus-Peter Schoeppner, director of the Emnid polling institute, told Reuters.

It's Still the Economy, Stupid!

Despite the new noise on the immigration front, the conservatives have not abandoned their strategy of defeating Schröder on the sluggish economy, a plan that appeared to be working before floods ravaged parts of Germany and Schröder came out strongly against military action in Iraq.

Stoiber blamed Schröder's government for the failure of telecoms operator Mobilcom, saying the company's crushing debt arose largely through the government's sale of expensive UTMS mobile licenses. He also criticized Schröder's plans to rescue the company with a 400 million euro ($391 million) bailout package.