By EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Anuscheh Farahat

A member of the German Left Party (Die Linke) has recently been denied naturalisation due to her membership in this left-wing party. Jannine Menger-Hamilton is Member of the regional parliament (Landtag) of Schleswig-Holstein functioning as spokesperson of the parliamentary group of her party. Mrs. Menger-Hamilton has been born in Germany; her mother is an Italian national, her father a British national.

In October 2007 Mrs. Menger-Hamilton applied for German citizenship. Since she is currently living in the Hannover region the naturalisation authority of Hannover is responsible for her application. More than two years after the application the naturalisation authority had not yet decided about her naturalisation. In February 2010 the intelligence service of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) raised concerns against the naturalisation of Mrs. Menger-Hamilton. The naturalisation authority informed then Mrs. Menger-Hamilton about these concerns listing the following arguments: Mrs. Menger-Hamilton is member of the Party “Die Linke“, which is on the list of organisations observed by the intelligence service of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). According to the naturalisation authority, the programmatic-ideological orientation of this party is incompatible with the liberal democratic basic order supported by the German constitution, the Basic Law (Grundgesetz). In particular, the party’s programmatic commitment to de-privatise companies and to establish a democratic economic order is conceived as extremist.

The naturalisation authority has asked Mrs. Menger-Hamilton to defend herself against these allegations. Mrs. Menger-Hamilton is now trying to force a decision of the naturalisation authority by submitting the case to a court and arguing that the authority is simply trying to delay the decision.

The argumentation of the naturalisation authority is based on § 11 No. 1 of the German Nationality Law providing that naturalisation has to be denied if effective evidence leads to the assumption that the applicant pursues or supports activities against the liberal democratic basic order (freiheitlich-demokratische Grundordnung), the existence or security of the Federal Republic of Germany or one of its Länder. Due to this provision German naturalisation authorities regularly request information from the intelligence services of the Länder or the Federation. However, naturalisation authorities are not bound by the assessment of the intelligence services. Instead they are obliged to take an independent decision about the naturalisation of a person on the basis of all possible information and in particular on the basis of the individual behaviour of a person. Being member of party which is observed by the intelligence service should therefore not in itself be a sufficient reason to deny naturalisation – especially since Mrs. Menger-Hamilton is part of a moderate wing of her party.

Membership in an organisation conceived as anti-constitutional has been the reason for denial of naturalisation also in other cases. The case of Jannine Menger-Hamilton shows some similarities with that of the Syrian national Aram A.: The nationalisation authority of Hannover denied his naturalsation due to his membership in the German Socialist Workers Youth (SDAJ) which is the Youth organisation of the German Communist Party (DKP). Neither the DKP nor the SDAJ are banned political parties. However, the intelligence service of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) believes that the SDAJ pursues anti-constitutional activities. Therefore, the naturalisation authority denied Aram’s application for naturalisation.

In December 2009 the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) decided that membership in the Islamic organisation Mili Görus is a sufficient reason to deny naturalisation – at least if a member of this organisation has never credibly distanced him- or herself from the anti-constitutional orientation of the organisation (BVerwG 5 C 24.08, 2 December 2009).

Read more:

Decision of the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG 5 C 24.08)

Die Tageszeitung (TAZ) reports on the decisions of the naturalisation authority of Hannover:

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The Hannover Zeitung report

Original version of the German Nationality Law (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz (as amended by Act of 5 February 2009, Federal Law Gazette I p. 1970)