Frankfurt: The desire for sustainable integration
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OfStefan Micksch
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During a panel discussion at the Office for Multicultural Affairs in Frankfurt, one thing became clear: If immigration is to succeed, it needs all parts of society. And there is still room for improvement in many areas.
Faisal Shehadeh, chairman of the Syrian Society for Doctors and Pharmacists in Germany and who works at the Hanau Clinic, enthused about the German operating theaters, which were a dream, at the discussion evening in the Office for Multicultural Affairs. “But what is a dreamlike operating theater without people in it,” he added as a question. For many foreign doctors, the path to Germany is still too difficult and involves great imponderables.
That is why the Syrian Society was founded. She supports people with a medical background from Syria to gain a foothold in Germany. However, the recognition is not uniform. In 16 federal states, there are also 16 different recognition processes and different authorities that recognize the degrees, according to Shehadeh. Access to the exams in Germany is too complicated. In America, for example, there are binding dates per year that you can prepare for.
In addition to Shehadeh, four other people at the Intercultural Media Dialogue Rhein-Main know the question “Integration and economy – all problems solved?”. Joachim Valentin, director of the Haus am Dom, moderated the event.
One of the positive news of the evening was certainly that many people are very interested in coming to Germany and working here. Alberto Coronado from the Welcome Center Hessen sees this as an opportunity to counteract the shortage of skilled workers. Much has already been improved and accelerated with the Skilled Immigration Act. should nevertheless further reduce the processing times for the authorities.
Gülabatin Sun, Head of Audit at Deutsche Bank, sees four possible levers against the shortage of skilled workers. First the migration. It would take 500,000 people a year to cover the needs. Second: Qualified women who are currently not working are referred there. The third is to further raise the retirement age or – fourth – to increase the possibility of productivity through artificial intelligence and digitization. “If we don’t use all the levers, we will have a problem maintaining our prosperity in Germany,” she said.
Fessum Ghirmazion from the IG Metall Frankfurt trade union added training and further education and improved working conditions to the levers. “Otherwise we can bring as many people as we want. If they’re burned out, it’s useless.” He also pointed out that there isn’t just a shortage of skilled workers, but a shortage of workers in general. He really hopes that attitudes towards immigration have changed in Germany. Because she had to in order to solve the problem.
Ghirmazion called for a “clear statement from this country” that it wanted migration. And you have to stop talking about usefulness. The people would have to be taken completely – with families and even if they can no longer work.
The last participant in the discussion was Emre Berk, Head of Vocational Training and Labor Market Integration at the Frankfurt association Kubi (Culture and Education). He reported that a lot is happening in job promotion through the job centers. Programs such as prospects for refugees or prospects for young refugees are examples of this. Language skills are essential for starting a career. As a rule, there are nationwide offers for this.
Berk would like to see non-formal and informal skills recognized in the future. Also things that are also learned in other places or on other topics.
He also brought up sustainable integration. People would only stay if they felt comfortable. This often requires cultural sensitivity on the German side. Gülabatin Sun reiterated the holistic view of integration efforts. Integration into society is extremely important. You have to look at those people who have already been there (for years). What had been missed there and could now be made up for.