1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Opposition Adopts Integration Policy

December 7, 2004
https://p.dw.com/p/5xk4

Germany’s main opposition party, the conservative Christian Democrat Union, adopted on Tuesday a central plank of its immigration policy emphasizing the fight against Islamist extremism and stressing better integration of non-European foreigners. Against the backdrop of a thwarted plot to attack Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in Berlin last week, the CDU proposal calls for restricting the actions of Islamic leaders and promoting the teaching of basic human rights such as the equality of men and women. It focuses on integration, as opposed to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s notion of multiculturalism, and proposes more language courses for immigrants. It also calls for imposing sanctions on those foreigners who refuse to learn German or accept the country’s democratic values. The 12-page document, entitled “In Germany's Interest: Encouraging Integration, Fighting Islamism,” was passed by CDU members on the final day of their annual congress in Düsseldorf. “What we expect from foreigners who want to live in Germany is a knowledge of universal human rights and that they clearly, unambiguously distance themselves from Sharia as the predominant law,” the document states.