‘Assist and insist’ is the primary principle underlying the ‘draft law on integration’ for asylum seekers that the Council of Ministers adopted on 25 May. This is a compromise text struck between on the one hand, the Minister for Social Affairs and Employment Andrea Nahles (SPD) and on the other, the Minister for the Interior Thomas de Maizière and it provides for both a series of measures that aim to facilitate the integration of the waves of refugees arriving in Germany and impacting the country’s apprenticeship and jobs markets, as well as penalties (by way of reductions in benefits payments) for those who refuse to participate in language and integration courses. A provision long called for by employers has also been secured in so far as refugees who start on an apprenticeship program will receive a residency permit for the duration of the apprenticeship. The government hopes the Bundestag will adopt the draft law before the summer.
“We have adopted an ‘important law’ that will both alleviate the obstacles posed by excessive red tape and facilitate the integration of refugees in the apprenticeship and jobs markets”, enthused Andrea Nahles during a press conference in Berlin. Beside her, her colleague from the Interior, Minister Thomas de Maizière, clarified saying, “We must maintain social cohesion”. For the Interior Minister, this landmark law will set the framework for the sustainable integration of migrants, and will al
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