This is where it is most difficult to become Swiss

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Just three years ago, the canton of Aargau was tightening the screws when it came to naturalization. Now the cantonal parliament wants to further tighten the requirements for the red passport.

In the canton of Aargau, only those who speak German at least at level B2, ie speak German almost fluently, should now have the opportunity to become citizens. Nowadays it is enough if you can talk about familiar topics.

In addition, even a small Tolggen in the criminal record could block the way to a Swiss passport in the coming years. The Grand Council of Aargau wants relatively innocent violations to automatically become an exclusion criterion. The cantonal parliament of Aargau decided on Tuesday and ordered changes to the law.

These cantons are the strictest

A naturalization regime that is already very strict compared to other cantons is now becoming “extremely restrictive,” says Barbara von Ruth, who conducts research on civil rights at the Europa Institute of the University of Basel. Although naturalization procedures have been tightened and harmonized throughout Switzerland in 2018, there are still major differences between cantons and municipalities.

For example, in most cantons the condition applies that you have not received social assistance benefits in the last three years before submitting the application for naturalisation. In Aargau, on the other hand, the authorities – as in Bern and Graubünden – look at the past ten years.

Moreover, only Schwyz, Nidwalden and Thurgau have such strict requirements for oral German skills as they should apply in Aargau. As for possible criminal convictions, civil rights expert Von Rütte does not know of any canton that has such strict rules as Aargau now wants to introduce.

Violation of the Constitution?

They can even be stricter than the constitution allows. The Aargau government council member Dieter Egli (53) pointed out in the parliamentary debate that such a strict law would be contrary to the principle of proportionality. Lawyer Barbara Rütte also thinks this is possible.

“It all depends on how exactly the tightening is implemented. A blank ban on all criminal offences, even minor offenses that occurred a long time ago, would actually be problematic,” she says. There is a good chance that such a decision will be challenged in court. And that the court would pick him up.

“It weakens democracy”

It is not only in Aargau that politicians want to raise the naturalization thresholds. Tightening is also under discussion in Zug.

Expert von Rütte has observed a clear trend in recent years towards increasingly strict naturalization laws. “The result is that nowadays almost only highly educated people from EU and EFTA countries get the chance to become naturalized.” From their point of view, this is dangerous. “If you exclude so many people from civil rights in the long run, it weakens democracy.”

Many studies have shown that naturalization greatly promotes integration. After five years, according to Von Rütte, naturalized people would have a significantly higher income. “That’s why it actually makes sense to grant migrants citizenship.”

Source:Blick