On the occasion of his 75th birthday, former President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Hans-Jürgen Papier, voiced concerns about a gap in the German Basic Law concerning nationality. According to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, Papier stated that German citizens are the carriers of state power in Germany; however, he questioned how the law determines who belongs to the German people and who can obtain German citizenship, noting that the Basic Law largely remains silent on this matter.
He elaborated that this lack of clarity means that “simple political majorities” could potentially change who is eligible for German citizenship as they see fit. Speaking again to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, Papier expressed his significant regret, acknowledging this as a long-standing weakness in the Basic Law. Despite the strengths of the Basic Law, he lamented, “In the matter of citizenship, it is unfortunately silent.” Furthermore, he believes that the grant of German citizenship should ideally follow the successful completion of a person’s integration, rather than, as has recently been the case, taking place at the beginning of the process.
However, the constitutional lawyer firmly rejected political demands to retrospectively amend accelerated naturalization processes-known as “turbo naturalizations.” He stated that “one cannot retroactively revise every political decision regarding naturalization-even if one considers it incorrect.” He added that administrative actions can generally only be reversed if there are legal errors, because no German citizen must be allowed to become stateless.
