[Wash Times] As native populations in Europe decline, they’re increasingly being replaced by immigrants from different and sometimes hostile cultures. The long-term question bothering many Europeans is whether the complex cultures in Europe, carefully cultivated and which have contributed much to the world, can survive this infusion.Demographic predictions are notoriously subjective, vulnerable to distortion and misinterpretation. Short-term movements can be mistaken for long-term perspectives. Germany is the dramatic example of the phenomenon.
In 10 years’ time there will be a shortage of at least 3 million skilled workers in Germany. Economic growth will otherwise slow if not collapse. Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to simplify recognition of foreign vocational training degrees and the government no longer requires employers check whether native Germans are available to fill job openings. She would issue temporary residence permits to qualified foreign German-speakers to live in the country while they search for work.
Germany is the second most popular migration destination in the world, after the United States, and is home of the second highest percentage of immigrants in its general population, after Britain. By United Nations estimates that 12 million people living in Germany are immigrants, nearly 15 percent of the total population.
In the aftermath of World War II, the West German government signed agreements with Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and Yugoslavia enabling recruitment of guest workers with few qualifications. Children born to such guest workers received the right of residence, but not citizenship, though many of them eventually did become German citizens.