David Crossland in Berlin
Friday January 7, 2005
The Guardian
German Jewish leaders have criticised plans to curb the immigration of Jews from Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union under a new regulation aimed at restricting the entry of unskilled foreign workers.
Interior ministers from Germany's 16 powerful federal states, or länder, decided last month to allow in only those immigrants who speak German or have decent job prospects. They also want to shelve existing entry applications made by 27,000 Jews. Germany's Jewish population has risen more than three-fold since 1990, when the country started allowing them free entry.
The proposed limits coincide with a new law that came into force this month aimed at reducing the immigration of unskilled foreign workers into a labour market already straining under the weight of more than 4 million unemployed.
The plan has not yet been approved by the interior minister, Otto Schily, who has pledged to discuss it with the Central Council of Jews in Germany. But the länder have the power to introduce the curbs on their own, and it seems certain the limits will go ahead in some form.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1384894,00.html