Listing Nationalities Fosters Populist Attitudes
In a move that has sparked controversy, North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister, Herbert Reul, has introduced a decree aimed at indicating multiple citizenships of suspects and victims in crime statistics, retroactively from July 1st. This decision has been met with criticism from various political parties, including the Greens and the Left.
The Greens have distanced themselves from the decree, with Julia Höller, the Green Party's spokesperson on interior affairs in the state parliament of Düsseldorf, calling it populism. She argues that the measure benefits the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and makes people with dual citizenship "second-class Germans."
Clara Bünger, the interior spokeswoman of the Left in the Bundestag, has also expressed her criticism towards the decree. She believes that the decree falsely suggests that citizenship has something to do with crimes and that addressing the real causes of crime, such as hopelessness or poverty, should be prioritized over engaging in sham debates.
Previously, German suspects who also had another passport, such as Turkish or Greek, were only counted as German suspects. However, the evaluation by Minister Reul found that every sixth suspect with German citizenship in 2024 had a second citizenship. The most common dual citizenships among German suspects in North Rhine-Westphalia were: German/Turkish, German/Polish, German/Russian, German/Moroccan, and German/Syrian.
Bünger emphasized that the Basic Law clearly states that anyone with a German passport is German, regardless of any other citizenship. She also criticized the decree as a dangerous division between "real" and "other" Germans. Her criticism joins the Greens' criticism of the decree, with Bünger's sharp tones unusual in the often-described "quiet" black-green coalition of Minister President Hendrik Wüst.
The Federal Criminal Office only transmits one citizenship according to federal guidelines. The sharp debate over the decree has raised concerns about the potential impact on community relations and the effectiveness of crime statistics in North Rhine-Westphalia. The debate continues as both sides present their arguments, with the future of the decree yet to be determined.
