According to a Spiegel report, a legal opinion commissioned by Berlin’s justice senator Felor Badenberg (CDU) has concluded that the city’s “Gesetz zur Förderung der Partizipation in der Migrationsgesellschaft” commonly called the Partizipation Gesetz, could contravene the German Basic Law in certain respects.
The law mandates that, when recruiting for public‑service positions, the number of candidates with a migration background invited to interviews must be at least proportional to their share of Berlin’s population-now a little over 40 %. It also requires proactive outreach to those with the same qualifications as other applicants and special consideration when hiring.
The legal assessment finds that, if applied literally, these provisions violate constitutional guarantees. The Basic Law obliges public employers to select the most qualified candidates based on ability, competence, and performance, while simultaneously forbidding discrimination or preferential treatment on the basis of sex, origin, or ethnicity.
Senator Badenberg, herself born in Iran, explained that her aim is to promote integration and participation. She said, “Because I have a migration history, I understand how important belonging and fair chances are”. She added that the Basic Law is her guiding principle for public action, insisting that access to government positions must rest on merit and that quotas do not lead to true integration-only equal opportunities for all do.
The law, as it stands today, was adopted in 2021 by Berlin’s coalition senate under then-mayor Michael Müller (SPD).
