The Coalition Government Agreement

The Coalition government has FINALLY drafted a complete agreement agreed upon by all those that took part in the discussions. The next step is to have the members of the SPD to vote on it, if all of them agree then we could have Merkel voted in as Chancellor before end of the year.

So here’s what the government has agreed upon:

Dual citizenship

The new agreement has done away with the Optionszwanggesetz that forces children holding the German passport in addition to another to decide before their 23rd birthday. With this new law, all children who’re legible to dual citizenship can keep it for life. Nothing has changed for mature citizens planning to take up German citizenship.

Education

Increase the number of foreign students in German institutions of higher learning and research by 30% to 350,000.

Introduce IT classes in schools, kitas (daycare centres) and kindergartens

Minimum wage

Minimum wage will be set at €8.50 per hour from 2015 but it becomes compulsory from 2017.

Retirement Age:

will be set at 63 for those that work full time for 45years, for those with gaps due to unemployment or maternity/paternity leaves, they can go on retirement from age 65. Those interested in working longer can continue until their 67th birthday.

Pension: 

Pension will be set to €850 a month for those who didn’t earn enough during their working days. This will be implemented from 2017.

Integration

Migration offices will be improved to focus more on accepting foreigners. New migrants will be offered an introduction course to life in Germany and offers to integrate.

Aslyum:

Applications will be processed within 3months.

Movement of asylum seekers will no longer be restricted to a few kilometres but to the whole State.

BFD:

A new ID for volunteers within the BFD program will be introduced. The ID will allow them to enjoy discounts.

More:

You can read the whole Agreement here: Koalitionsvertrag 2013 (Only available in German)