Immigration in Berlin

Political parties
land”) presents the subject of immigration and
multiculturalism under the title “Diversity enriches
– accomplishing a culture of welcome”
(CDU/CSU, 201 3, p. 63) – i.e. a rather positive
title for the subject. The different parts of the
subject are presented under rather positivesounding
subtitles, although some of the
things said can be considered as quite
negatively inclined toward immigrants (CDU/
CSU, 201 3, pp. 63-66). However, there is not
very much generalising of immigrants, some of
the negative sentences include reservations,
one example being: “Those that refuse to learn
German have no chances of a future in our
country” (ibid. p. 65). In one
paragraph, the program addresses
religious or cultural
traditions, and specifically
mentions “Muslims” three
times. Other religions are
not mentioned at all. One
of these mentions can be
considered negative (talking
about “Muslim special
courts”) while the two
others only call on more
cooperation with Muslim
organisations (ibid. p. 66).
The tone taken by the
Berlin CDU in contrast is quite a different one.
The program (“1 00 Lösungen damit sich was
ändert für Berlin”) is organised as 1 00
problems, with the CDU’s answers to these
questions. Seven problems concerning immigration
and multiculturalism are grouped
together – making this the clear “immigration
part” of the program. Together with these
seven problems are some problem-answers
providing additional material on the matter.
The titles of the problems are quite tabloid
and hard sounding, especially those that are
negative toward immigrants (CDU Berlin, 201 1 ,
pp. 51 -57). Examples include: “Some immigrants
seal themselves off, ‘parallel societies’
come to existence” (ibid. 52) and “Migrants
dominate the criminal statistics” (ibid. 54).
Especially this last one is also very generalising.
A harsher tone than the one taken on
the national level can therefore be seen
27
Position of CDU/CSU and SPD in their
national programmes from 2013. The position
is the percentage of statements in the
program negative towards multiculturalism
subtracted from the percentage of statements
positive towards multiculturalism. As seen,
the SPD has a much more positive position
than the CDU/CSU. The research on the
municipal programmes indicates that the
positions in Berlin are even further away from
the neutral position (0).
Source for the national numbers: Manifesto Project Database
in the Berlin program. The theme of immigration
is also mentioned over two paragraphs
in the introduction to the program, some of it
in quite negative terms (ibid. 5). The national
SPD program (“Das wir entscheidet”) presents
the theme of immigration, integration and
multiculturalism under the title “Equal rights to
participation: For a modern integration policy”
(SPD, 201 3, p. 58). Generally, it can be
perceived in a positive tone, with the opening
statement being: “Germany is an open
country” (ibid.). Diversity is mentioned as a
resource of the future. Religious diversity is
mentioned, however no religions are mentioned
specially. The SPD
program can therefore in
general be perceived as
more positive than that of
the CDU, and with no specific
mention of any single
group (ibid. pp. 58-60) .
The Berlin program (BER-
LINprogramm) of the SPD
presents the topics of immigration,
integration and
multiculturalism at two main
places (SPD Berlin, 201 1 , p.
1 1 ; pp. 38-39). The content
is presented under neutral
or positive titles (ibid.). The tone is, generally
speaking, quite similar to the one taken by the
SPD in their national programme, however,
there are signs of taking it all one step further
– for instance saying that they “want a change
of mentality in regard to immigration into a
culture of recognition” (ibid. p. 38). The only
mention of a specific religion is that they want
a professorial chair for education in Muslim
theology (ibid. p. 39).
What the analysis shows is that both parties’
Berlin programs reflect the position taken by
their national counterparts. However, in the
cases of both parties, the position of the
national party has been strengthened in the
Berlin program. Taking into consideration that
the position on immigration in the national
program of CDU/CSU can be considered slightly
negative in the attitudes toward immigrants,