Where Now for European Social Democracy? - Policy Network

BRIGITTE ZYPRIES 91dispute regarding the correct programme we cannot lose sight of this:we need a process for immigration that is geared toward the needsof the job market. With the immigration law we could better andmore flexibly steer employment migration than before. This will haveresults for all of us, for the entire German society. We expect positivechanges, such as in the job market and the social security system, butalso as to cultural co-existence. With the immigration law we havefor the first time placed immigration policy in a larger context. Amigration policy that considers these contexts and keeps a view towardall, immigrants and citizens, will succeed as a decisive policy aimed atintegration. Integration is the prerequisite for innovation.Freedom in security: prerequisite for asocial democratic Europe in the 21st century“Fair reform of our country.” Under this program the executivecommittee of the SPD in January 2004 agreed the “Weimar Guidelineson Innovation.”We want ‘Made in Germany’ to remain a trade mark. To be presentin the growth markets of tomorrow, our state-of-the-art technologymust be promoted more than before. Education, science, and researchmust become a matter for the entire society.Fairness in opportunities and integration are prerequisites for this,as are the long-term security of our social system and stable publicfinances.But so is freedom in security. It is a prerequisite for individual andempowering development. It is also the central theme of socialdemocracy in the twenty-first century. When faced with a choice,taking responsibility for freedom is not always easy. Simple,reactionary, and vague slogans are sometimes too seductive, candelude people into false security, calm them, and are – at least in theshort-term – politically successful. It is easy for conservative politics toplay this tune. Social democratic politics cannot allow it to be so easy;they must differentiate, explain, and maintain the balance betweenfreedom and security. By doing so, social democratic legal policy willbe successful.