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What is Successful Integration?

April 19, 2004
https://p.dw.com/p/4txy

When it comes to questions of integration and immigration in Germany, Claudia Roth and Wolfgang Bosbach are often at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Roth, 48, is the German Green Party's expert on human rights and a sought-after partner on questions of integration and immigration. The former manager of a rock band, Roth entered politics in 1985 and has profiled herself both nationally and in Europe as a tireless advocate for minority groups, homosexuals and refugees. She was appointed the government's Commissioner of Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid in March 2003.

Bosbach, the domestic affairs expert in the German parliament for the conservative Christian Democratic Union, has been a reliable and steadfast critic of the Schröder government's integration and immigration policy. In recent negotiations over a proposed immigration law, the 51-year-old politician lead the charge against what he felt was a government law that encouraged immigrants to come to Germany. "We need to do more to integrate the immigrants here," he says.

DW-WORLD's Nancy Isenson interviewed the two on everything from their idea of successful integration to whether the Muslim head scarf is a symbol of isolation.