Germany urged to ease immigration laws

An ailing birthrate is forcing Schroeder to admit immigrants to swell the population

BERLIN, Germany -- A government commission has urged Germany to relax its stringent laws on immigration or face severe labour shortages.

Faced with predictions that the German population could contract by a quarter from its current 82 million over the next 50 years, the report has recommended the government admits 50,000 immigrants a year to counteract an old and shrinking citizenship.

The commission, led by Christian Democrat (CDU) Rita Suessmuth, said: "We must recognise that to secure our prosperity, our future, we are dependent on people from other countries with skills that we desperately need."

The report has advised the new immigrants should be selected according to a points system based on age and skills similar to that used in countries like Canada.

Separate quotas should be established for students and skilled workers in sectors of the economy with particular labour shortages, while financial support should be boosted for programmes to better integrate foreigners living in Germany, the commission adds.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder appointed the conservative Suessmuth to lead the immigration commission in the hope of reaching a consensus with the opposition CDU conservatives on the law ahead of general elections due next year, said Reuters. But the CDU has already said it cannot imagine compromising with the centre-left government on the basis of the Suessmuth commission, the agency said.

Schroeder's launch of U.S.-style Green cards last year to plug a skills shortage for computer specialists prompted a controversial campaign from the CDU entitled "Kinder statt Inder" ("Children rather than Indians") which called for spending on education rather than immigration.

While the main political parties increasingly accept that immigration is essential for the future of Europe's biggest economy, observers say many Germans oppose letting in more foreigners -- who already form nearly 10 percent of the population -- particularly while rates of unemployment are so high.

The commission report also comes a day after the Council of Europe -- the Strasbourg-based human rights watchdog -- urged Germany to combat "the serious problem of a rising tide of anti-Semitic and racist violence in the country."

Germany saw a 59 percent rise in reported far-right, anti-Semitic and racist crime during 2000, and a recent spate of high-profile attacks has sparked a bitter debate over xenophobia in the country, Reuters reported.

Michel Friedman, deputy leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Reuters he did not totally agree with the Council of Europe report but was deeply concerned about the rise of far-right crime in the country.

"The quantity and quality of racism and anti-Semitism has been exploding for years, while the social, political and legal counter-measures have not been increased at the same pace," Friedman said.

Since Germany's reunification in 1990 some 4.5 million foreigners have moved into the country, many of them refugees from the Balkan conflict. Very few are eligible for German citizenship and many returned to their home countries after a few years.

Germany last opened its doors to new immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s in a bid to rebuild its shattered economy after World War II.