Commentary
In 1981, as a UK citizen, I was able to receive a work permit in Germany for initially 5 years, which was then extended indefinitely. However, once in Germany, I realised that I had become completely disenfranchised and no longer had the right to a secret, personal vote – anywhere! I was not even entitled to vote in European elections!
After Maastricht, I welcomed the fact that I was now entitled to vote in local German and European elections. However, I was still not eligible to vote in UK or German national elections. Of course, I could have become a German citizen and thereby regain full political franchise, but I didn’t really want to become ‘German’ and give up my UK citizenship – I just wanted to put my vote where my taxes were. Most of the time, I felt quite relaxed being an Englishwoman in Germany, but every time national elections came round either in Germany or the UK, I felt very much like an ‘outsider’.
But last year, I decided to apply for German citizenship because the rules had now changed and it was now officially possible to retain my UK passport, and ‘add on’ German citizenship. However, all the new bureaucratic rules and regulations made the whole process much more difficult than one would have anticipated. First of all, I had to ‘prove’ my German language level was equivalent to B1 or 2 under the Common European Framework’s description. However, because all my formal German language qualifications had been taken many years before the CEF had been invented, this proved quite difficult. In the end (possibly because I am a professor at a German university and obviously well above the required level) and because I moved houses and the follow-up administrator took a more ‘relaxed’ view than the first one, this prerequisite was simply ignored. The next problem was to sign up for the political ‘citizenship test’ to check my knowledge of German history, politics, society and the legal system. Firstly, there were not enough test centres and dates to cope with the demand, and also, the time for them to mark the papers was several weeks. By this time, I was becoming increasingly concerned, (in February) that the process would not be completed in time for me to vote in the next national elections (in September). However, on 28 February I spent a full 12 minutes answering 33 multiple choice questions (for which one actually had one hour’s time), before dashing off to IKEA as we had just moved houses the day before! (I passed with full marks, which most of my German friends think they wouldn’t have managed!)
The best thing about the test, was answering friends’ and colleagues’ questions about ‘What did they ask you?’ I developed an extensive catalogue of trivial questions which I found highly entertaining (especially as so many people often believed me). These were, for example: Oh, they wanted to know, ‘what do Germans like to eat most? – Spaghetti, Kebabs, Sauerkraut or Pizza?’.
Or ‘If you are trying to rent a flat in Germany, is it better to be – Turkish, Spanish, Italian or Polish?’
In fact, the actual questions were often more irrelevant than the ones I invented, and certainly not particularly pertinent to the needs of many modern-day immigrants.
Finally, having paid my 255 Euros and passed my citizenship test, I was still almost prevented from being able to vote, due to the complexities of the German federal state bureaucracies. In July, after inquiring why I still had not received confirmation of my citizenship, I was informed that the local office was still waiting for some paperwork from Rhineland-Pfalz because I had moved to Hessen during the application process. At that point, I realised that unless this was sorted out within a few days, I would once more not be allowed to vote in the forthcoming elections! After a few irate phone calls, it turned out that in fact all the papers were there, and so then I finally received my confirmation and thus receive the right to vote.
Now that I have become ‘German’ and can vote where I pay taxes, am I happy? Not really. I still regard this very much as a ‘second-best’ solution to my problem. What happens if I decide to retire in France? Will I then have to add French citizenship to my ‘collection’? In an ideal world, what can European citizens do if they do not feel any particular affinity to one particular nation? What is the political equivalent to being agnostic or a non-believer? If I feel ‘European’ why can’t I just ‘come out’ and classify myself as such? Having to adopt, in my case, German and UK citizenship, rather than just becoming a European citizen, is rather like making a homosexual describe himself as a man and a woman, whereas in fact, he is something quite different and distinct.
Notions of ‘national citizenship’ do not fit easily with ‘European identity’. As a polyglot, European citizen, I do not appreciate having to be tagged or bound to cultures which I either obtained by pure chance (because I happened to be born there) or by choice (because of personal relationships, but not necessarily because of an intrinsic desire to become a citizen of that country). As a taxpayer though, I do feel it is important to be able to have a democratic say in choosing which politicians are able to spend approximately half my wages!
Do I think political franchise should depend on national citizenship?
Do you think black people should be allowed to sit anywhere on the bus?
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Commentary
‘Agnostic’ in Europe?
Commentary
In 1981, as a UK citizen, I was able to receive a work permit in Germany for initially 5 years, which was then extended indefinitely. However, once in Germany, I realised that I had become completely disenfranchised and no longer had the right to a secret, personal vote – anywhere! I was not even entitled to vote in European elections!
After Maastricht, I welcomed the fact that I was now entitled to vote in local German and European elections. However, I was still not eligible to vote in UK or German national elections. Of course, I could have become a German citizen and thereby regain full political franchise, but I didn’t really want to become ‘German’ and give up my UK citizenship – I just wanted to put my vote where my taxes were. Most of the time, I felt quite relaxed being an Englishwoman in Germany, but every time national elections came round either in Germany or the UK, I felt very much like an ‘outsider’.
But last year, I decided to apply for German citizenship because the rules had now changed and it was now officially possible to retain my UK passport, and ‘add on’ German citizenship. However, all the new bureaucratic rules and regulations made the whole process much more difficult than one would have anticipated. First of all, I had to ‘prove’ my German language level was equivalent to B1 or 2 under the Common European Framework’s description. However, because all my formal German language qualifications had been taken many years before the CEF had been invented, this proved quite difficult. In the end (possibly because I am a professor at a German university and obviously well above the required level) and because I moved houses and the follow-up administrator took a more ‘relaxed’ view than the first one, this prerequisite was simply ignored. The next problem was to sign up for the political ‘citizenship test’ to check my knowledge of German history, politics, society and the legal system. Firstly, there were not enough test centres and dates to cope with the demand, and also, the time for them to mark the papers was several weeks. By this time, I was becoming increasingly concerned, (in February) that the process would not be completed in time for me to vote in the next national elections (in September). However, on 28 February I spent a full 12 minutes answering 33 multiple choice questions (for which one actually had one hour’s time), before dashing off to IKEA as we had just moved houses the day before! (I passed with full marks, which most of my German friends think they wouldn’t have managed!)
The best thing about the test, was answering friends’ and colleagues’ questions about ‘What did they ask you?’ I developed an extensive catalogue of trivial questions which I found highly entertaining (especially as so many people often believed me). These were, for example: Oh, they wanted to know, ‘what do Germans like to eat most? – Spaghetti, Kebabs, Sauerkraut or Pizza?’.
Or ‘If you are trying to rent a flat in Germany, is it better to be – Turkish, Spanish, Italian or Polish?’
In fact, the actual questions were often more irrelevant than the ones I invented, and certainly not particularly pertinent to the needs of many modern-day immigrants.
Finally, having paid my 255 Euros and passed my citizenship test, I was still almost prevented from being able to vote, due to the complexities of the German federal state bureaucracies. In July, after inquiring why I still had not received confirmation of my citizenship, I was informed that the local office was still waiting for some paperwork from Rhineland-Pfalz because I had moved to Hessen during the application process. At that point, I realised that unless this was sorted out within a few days, I would once more not be allowed to vote in the forthcoming elections! After a few irate phone calls, it turned out that in fact all the papers were there, and so then I finally received my confirmation and thus receive the right to vote.
Now that I have become ‘German’ and can vote where I pay taxes, am I happy? Not really. I still regard this very much as a ‘second-best’ solution to my problem. What happens if I decide to retire in France? Will I then have to add French citizenship to my ‘collection’? In an ideal world, what can European citizens do if they do not feel any particular affinity to one particular nation? What is the political equivalent to being agnostic or a non-believer? If I feel ‘European’ why can’t I just ‘come out’ and classify myself as such? Having to adopt, in my case, German and UK citizenship, rather than just becoming a European citizen, is rather like making a homosexual describe himself as a man and a woman, whereas in fact, he is something quite different and distinct.
Notions of ‘national citizenship’ do not fit easily with ‘European identity’. As a polyglot, European citizen, I do not appreciate having to be tagged or bound to cultures which I either obtained by pure chance (because I happened to be born there) or by choice (because of personal relationships, but not necessarily because of an intrinsic desire to become a citizen of that country). As a taxpayer though, I do feel it is important to be able to have a democratic say in choosing which politicians are able to spend approximately half my wages!
Do I think political franchise should depend on national citizenship?
Do you think black people should be allowed to sit anywhere on the bus?
Tags: Commentary