A third problem is immigration and ethnical cleavage. Germany has one of the highest
proportions of foreigners in Europe (8.5% in 1993) but politicians have been very slow
in facing up to this fact. In addition, after the fall of the Iron Curtain to East Europe
around 1990, there has been an influx of people from the former Soviet Union and
East Europe recognised as ethnic Germans (‘settlers’). Between 1988 and 1996, 2.3
million settlers and c. 2 million asylum seekers came to Germany. Poverty among
foreigners is twice as high as among native citizens, and some of the settlers are
becoming a marginal group. There is little response by politics, legal measures prevail:
the right to asylum has been restricted in 1993 and the law of citizenship has been
reformed to allow for double nationality (1999). But problems of social integration
resurface among the third generation of immigrants and among new immigrants,
including low qualification, crime and religious fundamentalism. With the biggest
Turkish community outside Turkey, Islam is increasingly recognised as a major
religious force beside Christianity. At the same time, as in France foreigners living in
Germany illegally have emerged as a new problem group.