W kierunku kultury powitania i uznania. Reforma polityki i prawa Republiki Federalnej Niemiec w dziedzinie imigracji
Towards a culture of welcome and recognition. Policy and law reform of the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of immigration

Summary/Abstract: At present, every fifth resident of the Federal Republic of Germany has a migration background. This state is the first immigration country in Europe and the second in the world after the United States. German policy and legislation in the field of immigration have long been an expression of a defensive attitude. Their main goal was to stop the recruitment of foreigners to work and to regulate their influx. The issue of the integration of immigrants into the host society remained outside the field of interest of decision makers. After decades of neglect in this area the first government of Chancellor Angela Merkel counted challenges related to the integration of immigrants among its priorities. Nevertheless, not until the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century did it start officially to talk about the lack of culture of welcome and recognition in Germany and the need for its creation. The second government of Angela Merkel took up this task. The change it proposed in attitude to foreigners, however, was a selective expression of openness in guidelines and practice and as such did not constitute a sufficient response to the challenges for the German state and its society. After the first - successful, but cautious - step towards a new paradigm of integration policy, the third government of Angela Merkel has already followed this path decidedly. The aim of the article is to discuss and assess both the change in the immigration policy of Germany, in particular in its integrationpolicy, towards a culture of welcome and recognition observed in recent years and the first regulations which reflect a new approach to th admission of immigrants in this country.

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