German Parliament votes on legalizing same-sex marriages

Germany approves same-sex marriage, bringing it in line with much of Western Europe - The Washington Post

BERLIN — Germany on Friday recognized the right of same-sex couples to wed, a major step for gay women and men living in a country split between conservative, Christian customs and new values that have made its cosmopolitan capital a haven for dissident lifestyles.

The German Parliament voted 393 to 226 to modify the country’s civil code, reshaping the institution of marriage with little fanfare but enormous significance as Germany prepares to join much of the Western world in codifying marriage equality. After clearing a path for lawmakers to approve the measure, Chancellor Angela Merkel ultimately opposed it.

“It’s a joyous turning point,” said Volker Beck, who has campaigned for gay rights for decades, as a spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany before entering Parliament as a member of the Green Party. “Equality and civil rights have been achieved.”

For some, the surprise was only how long it took in a country often seen as a progressive model for the region. Notable, also, was how quickly the matter moved forward once it was brought up this week.

At the same time, some conservative lawmakers said constitutional change was required, meaning the debate may not be fully settled. But Heiko Maas, the justice minister, told a public broadcaster this was “not absolutely necessary.”

At issue was a web of dynamics, including Nazi-era repression and the way in which political parties have derived their power from religious groups. Over time, however, church attendance has waned, and polling suggests that a comfortable majority of the public supports same-sex marriage.

Since 2001, Germany has allowed civil partnerships, which afford many of the same benefits accruing to married couples, with the notable exception of the right to joint adoption.

Electoral pressures facing Merkel also appeared central, leading some gay Germans to wonder whether they were political instruments for the German leader as she runs for a fourth term in September.

“The result is wonderful, but it makes me a bit angry that the gays are just a voting group to be won,” said Michael Rupp, 31, who works for an IT company.

[Here’s why Germany’s left has dwindling hopes of unseating Merkel]

Merkel, who has blocked consideration of gay marriage for more than a decade, suddenly set the ball in motion Monday. The daughter of a Protestant pastor, she said at an event sponsored by a women’s magazine that she would like to see the issue considered as a “question of conscience,” freeing members of her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to vote based on their personal convictions.

Marriage was becoming a wedge issue, and by easing her resistance, Merkel swept it away from her opponents. The Social Democrats, a center-left group forming part of the chancellor’s governing coalition, had declared future cooperation contingent on same-sex marriage. Smaller parties on whom Merkel might depend should she be reelected in the fall, such as the Greens, said the same.

The chancellor often has made leftist causes, from wages to nuclear power, her own. In this case, however, she kept the issue at arm’s length. After enabling its consideration, which all but guaranteed passage, she ultimately voted no.

Her rationale was that she had met a lesbian couple looking after eight foster children in her Baltic Sea constituency and that her concerns about adoption had been assuaged. But she said Friday that she had not changed her mind about the fundamental question of marriage.

“For me, marriage in the constitution is marriage between man and woman, and therefore I did not vote in favor of this bill,” she said.

Her personal reservations could ease backlash from the conservative wing of her party and its Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union, which is staunchly Catholic. The German Bishops’ Conference opposed the vote in a statement condemning the “hasty procedure” for overriding the “Christian concept of marriage.”

“I think Merkel herself was the most surprised by the developments of this week,” said Jens Spahn, a gay member of the CDU. “Of course some colleagues are angry, but in the end, everybody recognizes that the time is ripe for a decision.”

Few realized how quickly the issue would come to a vote, as the Social Democrats rushed to put it on the agenda after Merkel’s offhand remark. Even advocates were taken by surprise.

“At times we didn’t think there could be equality for marriage because of our constitution, which clearly was only intended for opposite-sex couples when it was written in 1949,” said Axel Hochrein, a board member of the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany. Parliament seemed the only route.

Protest mounted in the early 1990s. In 1994, a statute criminalizing homosexual acts between men was erased.

Civil partnerships in 2001 were a major step, Hochrein said, followed by decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court granting mostly equivalent privileges over the next 16 years. Meanwhile, discrimination based on sexual orientation was made illegal throughout the country.

The uneasy advancement of gay people in the European Union’s largest country reflects vast social differences within Germany, as well as its tortured past.

“Berlin and some of the conservative villages in the south of Germany — they exist on different planets,” said Andreas Krass of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin.

It was in Berlin that the gay rights movement began at the turn of the 20th century, with the founding of the first gay rights organization, said Robert Beachy, author of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307473139/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;creativeASIN=0307473139&amp;linkId=4c34bf5bc202e3028b264481900a8681" shape="rect" title="www.amazon.com">Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity</a>."

But the capital wasn’t “back in its glory,” he said, until reunification in 1990, as homosexuality was as dangerous in the postwar period as it had been under the reign of the Third Reich. Just last week, Parliament voided convictions under an anti-sodomy law sharpened by the Nazis and then preserved by West Germany.

Today, Beachy said, Berlin is again a mecca of an experimental form of gay life. But Jens Petersen, a spokesman for an AIDS-prevention organization in Berlin, said there is still work to be done. Some 3,000 new HIV infections are detected annually across Germany, he said, a number that has barely budged over the past several years.

He said his spirit is not dampened, however. Petersen, who is in a civil partnership, said he plans to formalize his marriage the first day it is possible, which is likely to be Nov. 1.

Poll shows a generational divide in white evangelical views of same-sex marriage

Supreme Court to take case on baker who refused to sell wedding cake to gay couple

Charges against Vatican cardinal revive questions about handling of child sexual abuse


Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world



Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news


Isaac Stanley-Becker is a national political reporter.

Isaac Stanley-Becker

Stephanie Kirchner was a reporter for The Washington Post based in Berlin. She left The Post in July 2017. 

Stephanie Kirchner

The Washington Post

Europe

The Washington Post provides the latest information and analysis on UK and European news. Includes news from the European Union, European commission news and European parliament news.

The Washington Post World section provides information and analysis of breaking world news stories. In addition to our world news and video, Post World News offers discussions and blogs on major international news and economic issues.

World

Contributor

Getty

GERMANY-POLITICS-G20-SUMMIT-EU-PROTEST-CLIMATE

Angela Merkel predicts showdown with U.S. over climate at G-20 - The Washington Post

BERLIN — In forceful remarks before Germany's Parliament on Thursday, Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to defend the ­international climate agreement spurned by the Trump administration, anticipating a difficult meeting of the leaders of the world's major economies next week in Hamburg.

Despite the withdrawal of the United States, the world’s second-largest polluter, the European Union remains committed to the Paris climate accord, Merkel said. But she was blunt about the obstacles posed by the American retreat from the deal, which was signed by 195 nations in an ­attempt to forge global consensus around limiting greenhouse ­gases.

"Since the U.S. announced that it would exit the Paris agreement, we cannot expect any easy talks in Hamburg," Merkel said, referring to the <a href="https://www.g20.org/Webs/G20/EN/G20/g20_node.html" target="_blank">Group of 20 summit</a> scheduled for July 7 and 8. "The dissent is obvious, and it would be dishonest to cover it up."

Without naming him, Merkel appeared to lament President Trump’s uncertainty about ­human-induced climate change, saying, “We can’t, and we won’t, wait until the last person on Earth is convinced of the scientific evidence for climate change.”

She said talks in Hamburg must “serve the substance and aims of the Paris accord” and insisted that she would not countenance calls to revise the agreement. She deemed the pact “irreversible.”

Her pledge echoed a rare joint statement from Germany, France and Italy rebuking Trump’s call to revise the agreement, which he said would have paralyzed American businesses and prevented the United States “from conducting its own domestic affairs.”

[Inside Trump’s climate decision: After fiery debate, he ‘stayed where he’s always been’]

A chasm separates Merkel and Trump — and not just on climate — as they head into the conference in the northern German port city of Hamburg. The German leader has said she also intends to make free trade and the shared burdens of managing the global refu­gee crisis focal points of the discussions. These principles stand in uneasy relationship with the "America first" doctrine that guides Trump's foreign policy.

One of her goals, Merkel said, will be “to send a clear signal for free markets and against isolationism,” adding, “Whoever believes that the world’s problems can be solved by isolationism and protectionism is making an enormous error.”

Merkel, who heads Europe’s most powerful economy, was preparing for the annual summit by hosting European heads of state in Berlin. In her speech Thursday morning, she reviewed the results of the European Council meeting last week in Brussels, where leaders began the protracted process of cutting Britain loose from the E.U.

But she looked past that undertaking to affirm the strength of the European bloc — the longevity of which has been tested over the past year — and other multilateral institutions. The long-serving German chancellor was adamant that the business of strengthening the continent would not be bogged down by negotiations over the terms of the British exit.

Especially important, she said, were avenues opened up by ­Franco-German cooperation, including new ideas to stabilize the euro zone. Merkel has said she is receptive to some of the ideas offered by French President Emmanuel Macron, such as installing a single finance minister and common budget for the euro zone.

Elmar Brok, a member of the European Parliament and a close ally of Merkel’s, said working with France is critical to each of her European objectives — from changes to the economic union to greater cooperation in security and defense.

[NATO allies boost defense spending in the wake of Trump criticism]

Trump’s election and the decision of British voters to leave the E.U. were repudiations of Merkel’s vision of a liberal, integrated West. But they may end up giving new impetus to her longer-term European aims, Brok said.

“She has a great chance right now,” said Brok, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and its former chairman. “There is a new European consciousness that we have to be stronger.”

At the same time, these efforts must be coupled with a sustained commitment to a close partnership with the United States, said Jürgen Hardt, foreign policy spokesman for Merkel’s ruling coalition in Parliament.

Hardt said Merkel’s speech was not a rejection of Trump’s government but a rebuttal of his idea that the American people are best served by an inward-looking policy.

“It’s not a fight against the U.S. but a fight for common values,” he said, noting that Germany still depends on the United States to buy its exports and defend it militarily. “We want a trustful partner in the U.S. on security but also on trade and economic issues — to the benefit of U.S. citizens and European citizens.”

Merkel calls U.K.’s offer on post-Brexit rights of E.U. citizens ‘a good start’

Trump faces his biggest trade decision yet

Merkel’s pivot boosts hopes for gay marriage in Germany

German city evacuates 11-story building, fearing repeat of Grenfell blaze - The Washington Post

BERLIN — An apartment building in a northwestern German city was evacuated Tuesday because of fears that its exterior insulation is similar to materials that allowed the deadly fire that torched London’s Grenfell Tower to spread.

The 11-story building is located in Wuppertal. In addition to discovering of the sort of insulation material under scrutiny after the blaze in London, government officials also found that the building's escape routes were too close to the facade, making them useless in the event of a fire.

“In principle, the building is a trap,” said Jochen Braun, head of Wuppertal's construction and housing department. “After we saw what happened in London, we reassessed the situation.”

The evacuation came as cities across Europe examine fire safety, prompted by the incineration two weeks ago of the 24-story tower in London. At least 79 people have been declared dead in that incident. In the aftermath of the inferno, tests of exterior cladding on dozens of other public housing complexes have yielded a 100 percent failure rate.

[Britain to test schools and hospitals after 75 out of 75 high-rise buildings fail fire safety tests]

More than 70 residents of the building in Wuppertal were either asked to stay with friends and relatives or were given access to furnished apartments, of which there is a glut, Braun said, because of preparations for refugee resettlement. The evacuees were also given food packages.

Authorities have asked the owner of the building to remove the facade and take other measures to eliminate the fire hazard. German media reported that at least 70 other buildings would be tested in Wuppertal alone.

One resident told local TV broadcaster WDR: “Perhaps something will finally happen now. Usually there's just talk and no action.”

Sarah

Reuters

Staff

Here’s why Germany’s left has dwindling hopes of unseating Merkel - The Washington Post

BERLIN — There is a German word, "Wechselstimmung," that means a mood for political change.

Americans felt it. So did Britons. The French, too. Whether it takes hold here will decide whether Martin Schulz, Germany’s Social Democratic candidate for chancellor, has an opportunity to unseat Angela Merkel, 62, who is seeking her fourth term in a September election.

Schulz, 61, will make his case Sunday at the Social Democrats' convention in Dortmund as he seeks to reboot his campaign after the center-left party took a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/05/15/in-germany-more-momentum-for-merkel/?utm_term=.d760228160a1" shape="rect" title="www.washingtonpost.com">drubbing</a> in state elections this spring. But analysts say it may already be too late. A surge in the polls surrounding Schulz's selection as party chairman in March has evaporated, and the Social Democrats (SPD) now trail Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) by double digits.

Bucking the trend elsewhere in the West, German voters may opt to stay the course.

“The polls are not the way they should be,” said Ralf Stegner, deputy chairman of the SPD. He acknowledged that the party has struggled to distinguish itself from Merkel’s bloc, with which it has governed in a grand coalition since 2013. When voters see little distance between the two leading parties, he said, the far-right Alternative for Germany — which appears poised to enter the federal Parliament for the first time — is able to position itself as the only distinct option.

“Therefore, I’m not for a centrist course,” Stegner said.

[Can a lesbian mother be the new voice of Germany’s far right?]

The SPD's dilemma, heightened by its working relationship with the conservatives, reflects a predicament facing other left-leaning parties caught between centrist impulses and their base. And in a moment of electoral volatility, there is no clear solution. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/frances-macron-is-about-to-expand-his-power-in-a-remarkable-way/2017/06/16/f5f45f7e-51fc-11e7-b74e-0d2785d3083d_story.html?utm_term=.b1bfbf91ae91" target="_self">Emmanuel Macron</a>, a former Socialist finance minister, charted a path to the French presidency from the middle. But Jeremy Corbyn, in leading Britain's Labour Party to a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/jeremy-corbyns-labour-party-may-be-no-2-but-still-won-big-in-british-elections/2017/06/08/828393c6-4bc5-11e7-987c-42ab5745db2e_story.html" target="_self">strong result</a> in general elections this month, and Bernie Sanders, in mounting a spirited bid for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination last year, showed how a more leftist message can resonate.

Schulz spent the past week touting plans to safeguard pensions and tax the rich, issues that are expected to form the centerpiece of the platform ratified in Dortmund. A draft released last month promised major new investment in infrastructure and education, as well as a security crackdown.

In a speech Thursday in the capital calling for more public housing, Schulz warned that social neglect drives voters to the extreme.

“I know because of my own background that Germany doesn’t only consist of central Berlin,” he said. “I can tell you what it was like for us as kids when my parents, small civil servants in North Rhine-Westphalia, finally had their own rooms for the boys and the girls thanks to state funding.”

Schulz has distanced himself from labor-market reforms introduced under the last SPD-headed government but has otherwise not made clear how his vision of “social justice” differs substantially from past initiatives, or even from the plans of other parties, said Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist at the Free University in Berlin.

The party’s mistake, said Gesine Schwan, a two-time SPD nominee for president, is assuming that Merkel is unassailable.

“Schulz is afraid to attack Merkel. He has overestimated himself during the hype, thinking he could make the election about personality,” Schwan said, referring to the period after Schulz’s rise to the party leadership, when polls pointed to a virtually neck-and-neck race. “Of course, on personality Merkel is very strong. The point is that she has a very bad policy, and this is where he has to attack her — her changes on taxes, no clear vision for Europe or climate policy, and the security issue, which doesn’t have to be a conservative point.”

Malu Dreyer, SPD governor of the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate, noted that Schulz still has several months to campaign. She said surveys suggest that many voters remain undecided.

“He understands and recognizes injustices in our society and can bring this across in a very authentic way,” Dreyer said.

A former bookshop owner and mayor who fought his way back from alcoholism, Schulz often uses his personal story to highlight his message of social solidarity. He served as president of the European Parliament for the past five years, stepping down in January. Neither an outsider nor a central player in national politics, he faces a steep climb in opposing Merkel, who has been in power for 12 years.

Unlike in countries where mainstream politicians have faltered, the chancellor has overseen a period of relative prosperity in Germany. Last year, the country’s economy expanded at a faster clip than at any point over the past half-decade, with employment and wages both on the rise. Meanwhile, Merkel has achieved star power as an exponent of liberal values, expected to counter Donald Trump, keep Vladimir Putin in line and take a hard line with Britain over its exit from the European Union.

[Negotiations begin over British split from the European Union]

Her global preeminence is a source of satisfaction even for those outside her party. It also blunts Schulz’s pro-Europe message, as well as his attempt to campaign as a bulwark against the far right.

“The uncertain environment on the international stage is playing to her favor, because she is the one who is in charge, she is the one who has experience in office,” said Peter Matuschek, head of political and social research at the Forsa Institute, a leading German polling company.

Matuschek said the SPD could resurrect itself on Sunday. But, he said, “it might come a little bit too late.”


In Germany, a new ‘feminist’ Islam is hoping to make a mark


‘The Germans are bad, very bad’: Trump’s slight generates confusion, backlash


As Britain softens its Brexit aims, E.U. leaders say their doors are still open


Muslim feminist opens a liberal mosque in Berlin

In Germany, a new ‘feminist’ Islam is hoping to make a mark - The Washington Post

BERLIN — Inside the red-brick building that now houses the German capital's newest and perhaps most unusual mosque, Seyran Ates is staging a feminist revolution of the Muslim faith.

“Allahu akbar,” chanted a female voice, uttering the Arabic expression “God is great,” as a woman with two-toned hair issued the Muslim call to prayer. In another major break with tradition, men and women — typically segregated during worship — heeded the call by sitting side by side on the carpeted floor.

Ates, a self-proclaimed Muslim feminist and founder of the new mosque, then stepped onto the cream-colored carpet and delivered a stirring sermon. Two imams — a woman and a man — later took turns leading the Friday prayers in Arabic. The service ended with the congregation joining two visiting rabbis in singing a Hebrew song of friendship.

And just like that, the inaugural Friday prayers at Berlin's Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque came to a close — offering a different vision of Islam on a continent that is locked in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/trump-like-opposition-to-islam-is-growing-in-europe/2016/06/06/1fb58be8-21b7-11e6-b944-52f7b1793dae_story.html?utm_term=.8c2a02ca369f" target="_blank">bitter culture war</a> over how and whether to welcome the faith. Toxic ills like radicalization, Ates and her supporters argue, have a potentially easy fix: the introduction of a more progressive, even feminist brand of the faith.

“The intention is to give liberal Islam a sacred space,” Ates said. “I feel very discriminated by regular mosques where women have to pray in ugly backrooms.”

Liberal Mosque Opens In Berlin

The subject of withering criticism as well as hopeful support, the house of worship is part of a small but growing number of liberal mosques founded all or in part by women. Seen by their backers as an antidote to gender bias that often leaves Muslim women praying in smaller spaces, the new kind of "feminist mosques" amount to a rallying cry for change, observers say.

In London, for instance, the female-founded <a href="http://inclusivemosqueinitiative.org" target="_blank">Inclusive Mosque Initiative</a> opened its doors in 2012. Female imams routinely lead prayers in spaces that welcome male and female Muslims of any sect — gays and lesbians included. More recently, mixed-gender or all-female prayers have spread to boutique mosques from California to Switzerland to Denmark.

Women and men traditionally pray separately in mosques for reasons of modesty. Some argue that the Koran does not explicitly call for separation, but others say that female voices should not be heard during prayer.

Nevertheless, women are said to have served as imams in ancient Islam, and female Muslim activists have been challenging the norms surrounding the religion for decades. Notable among these activists is Amina Wadud, an American who famously delivered a Friday sermon at a South African mosque in 1994.

Enter Ates, who opened the Berlin mosque largely through donations. A 54-year-old Turkish Kurd, she is both well known and polarizing in Germany’s Muslim community of more than 4 million. As a student, she narrowly survived a gun attack at a counseling center for Turkish women. And after years of fighting for women’s rights, repeated death threats forced her to close her legal practice in 2006.

The debut of her mosque brought a round of fire on social media from critics. "#Mosque without #Islam. Those who know Ates know that she is in favor of an Islam that is not based on its sources," <a href="https://twitter.com/genislam1/status/863517188489175041" target="_blank">tweeted the advocacy group Generation Islam</a>.

Burhan Kesici, chairman of the Islamic Council for the Federal Republic of Germany, dismissed her house of worship as a fad.

“We’re observing this and are wondering . . . how what is happening there is supposed to be rooted in Islam at all,” he said.

He added, “Of course women are equal. That there’s a separation in religious practice doesn’t mean that they’re not equal. I’m curious how long this congregation will last. . . . It seems a random conglomerate of different Islam critics.”

At the inaugural service Friday, the mosque housed inside an old theater space of a Protestant church lured more journalists than worshipers, as well as a significant security presence. Among the young Muslims attending was Haithm al-Kubati, 26, a Yemeni who moved to Germany six years ago.

It was, he said, his first time praying in a mosque with women.

“It still takes a bit of getting used to. But it’s often the case when something is new that it is a bit strange, perhaps even a bit scary. But I am sure that this is the way of the future,” he said.

Elham Manea, the female imam who shared in leading the Friday prayers, said mixed worship is an issue of equality.

“How and when a woman is asked to pray mirrors her social status within her community,” Manea said. “She is asked to pray separately from men, to cover her hair during prayer . . . and to stop praying during the days of her menstruation. . . . All these restrictions are imposed on her because they mirror the social conviction that a woman is not fully complete and perfect like a man and [that] she without doubt isn’t equal.”

“I understand that change is hard, because one is used to doing the same thing for centuries, and it will of course be difficult to change it. But still the time for change is now. . . . And we’re calling for it respectfully.”


Founder of Denmark’s first mosque for women: ‘I will not listen to naysayers.’


Anthony Faiola is a Correspondent at Large for The Washington Post. Since joining the paper in 1994, he has served as bureau chief in Berlin, London, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and New York.

Anthony Faiola

FIFA Under-20 World Cup 2017

The arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants is fueling a German identity crisis - The Washington Post

BERLIN — For decades after the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II, Germans had trouble defining themselves as a nation. But the arrival of hundreds of thousands of newcomers appears to have thrust the country into a new, full-fledged identity crisis.

Recently, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière listed 10 Martin Luther-style “theses” on what all Germans have — or should have — in common. The article published by the German daily Bild sparked a heated debate about the controversial term “leitkultur” (“guiding culture” or “leading culture”).

Along with less-controversial qualities, such as the typically German trait of valuing education not simply as a means to an end, the interior minister seemed to suggest that Muslim newcomers should be willing to adapt to local customs.

“We say our name. We shake each other’s hand when we greet,” he wrote. “ . . . We are an open society. We show our face. We are not burqa.”

Some accused de Maizière of blatant populism and attempting to co-opt the anti-immigrant message of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of federal elections in September.

Others mocked the text by creating their own lists, relishing in German stereotypes, such as a love for excessive bureaucracy. "If there's no form for it, it doesn't really exist" was among the "<a href="http://www.bento.de/haha/deutsche-leitkultur-100-punkte-die-thomas-de-maiziere-vergessen-hat-1341047/[bento.de" shape="rect" target="_blank">100 points Thomas de Maizière forgot</a>" offered by writer Kathrin Wessling.

Social-media users began posting pictures of many German tourists’ favorite footwear alongside the caption: “We are not burqa, we are socks and sandals.”

Despite the criticism, a recent poll published by the Focus newsmagazine found that more than half of Germans think their country is in need of a “leitkultur.”

“German society due to the migration of recent years has a need to reassure itself and to define what’s indispensable for it,” said Jens Spahn, a lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party. “A healthy patriotism . . . is something that Germans are struggling with based on their history, something they are slowly and carefully developing.”

Spahn acknowledged that the number of Muslim women wearing the full-face veil is low in Germany, but he said: “People who think their wife should be fully veiled should go find another country. I don’t want to see fully veiled women. Those who want that should stay in Saudi Arabia.”

German Integration Commissioner Aydan Ozoguz said such arguments are missing the point.

“Nobody in this country considers himself a burqa. It’s shocking that such important issues are discussed in such a tone,” she said. “People should be given the chance to participate in society instead of being excluded by imposing rules on how to behave. If I think about how many Germans don’t look at one’s face, it would never occur to me to deny them their Germanness.”

The term “leitkultur” is not new and has popped up in the German political sphere before. But the massive task of integrating the several hundred thousand migrants who have arrived since 2015 lends a sense of urgency to the debate this time.

Other European countries may also have felt a need to define what makes them unique — Denmark's Culture Ministry last year published a "Denmark Canon," including the concept of "<a href="https://www.danmarkskanon.dk/om-danmarkskanonen/english/[danmarkskanon.dk" shape="rect" target="_blank">hygge,</a>" or "a special way of being together in a relaxing, nice atmosphere." But Germany seemed to grapple harder with the issue.

Literature professor Dieter Borchmeyer, author of a more than 1,000-page tome titled “What is German?: A Nation’s Search for Itself,” says that Germany’s struggle with identity has to do with the fact that, compared with other European countries, it took longer for Germany to become a nation state. “The definition of what is German used to be only based on culture, since politically Germany didn’t exist until 1871,” he said. “This explains the uncertainty when it comes to determining what is German.”

And although Germany may not "be burqa," a moderate version of Islam is anything but incompatible with its culture, according to Borchmeyer. "Just think of Goethe's <a href="https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B005NDP220&amp;preview=newtab&amp;linkCode=kpe&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_ejfmzbBQ6NMNE&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20" shape="rect" target="_blank" title="read.amazon.com">'West–Eastern Divan</a>,' the most magnificent lyrical creation of German literature. . . . It's a total homage to Islamic poetry."


Germany’s far right preaches traditional values. Can a lesbian mother be its new voice?



German army officer disguised himself as refugee to carry out terrorist attack, investigators say



In Germany, right-wing violence flourishing amid surge in online hate


Austria's Foreign Minister and designated new leader of the OeVP Kurz talks to journalists in Vienna

Move toward early elections in Austria opens door for far right - The Washington Post

BERLIN — Austria appeared headed Monday toward early elections after a breakdown of its coalition government, potentially paving a path to power for the far-right <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/austrias-right-wing-populism-reflects-anti-migrant-anti-muslim-platform-of-donald-trump/2016/05/19/73368bbe-1c26-11e6-82c2-a7dcb313287d_story.html?utm_term=.c2556cb9da4c">Freedom Party</a>.

The turn of events adds to Europe's already crammed election season while setting up the European far right's best chance for a victory this year after <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-le-pen-defeat-europes-far-right-wave-crashes-to-a-halt/2017/05/07/e8edfa46-301f-11e7-a335-fa0ae1940305_story.html?utm_term=.74f033b3ecca">losses in the Netherlands and France</a>.

On Monday, senior Austrian officials were locked in meetings in Vienna, negotiating the timing of new elections after the ruling coalition, made up of the center-left Social Democrats and the center-right People’s Party, found itself at a political impasse. Though the coalition was set to govern until 2018, an early vote is now expected no later than autumn.

Austria’s anti-Islam, anti-migrant Freedom Party is topping some key opinion polls.

“The people are so fed up with the grand coalition that they prefer anything else,” said Peter Hajek, a Vienna-based political scientist.

[Austrian nationalists hope for a “Trump bump”]

In recent weeks, the alliance between the Social Democrats and the People’s Party has frayed amid infighting that deepened markedly last week with the resignation of Reinhold Mitterlehner, former chief of the People’s Party. The Social Democrats and their junior partners, the People’s Party, have argued over a batch of measures, holding up major decisions on education and tax policy.

Meanwhile, the People’s Party has been in the throes of a leadership upheaval that resulted in the crowning Sunday of a new chairman: Sebastian Kurz, a 30-year-old rising star who has been serving as Austria’s foreign minister.

Kurz has taken a sharp anti-refugee stance in recent months, currying favor with harder-right elements in Austria while also managing to sidestep the aggressive tone of the Freedom Party. Though his People’s Party polls in third place overall, Kurz is widely seen as Austria’s most popular politician.

When taking over the top job Monday, he won significant concessions for new powers from his party elders — including the right to rename it the “New People’s Party” on election ballots. Soon after winning, Kurz reiterated his call for early elections.

[Austrian president suggests women wear headscarves to fight Islamophobia]

After Kurz’s elevation, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern of the Social Democrats conceded Sunday that there was no way to prevent a snap vote.

On Monday, Kern said he was aiming for an “orderly process” toward an early vote and expressed hope that a few initiatives on the government's agenda could still be pushed through before and during the summer.

Kern said he would like to see Kurz become vice chancellor. Even if he does, it appears that such a deal would simply create a placeholder cabinet that would usher in new elections.

Before deciding on taking the job, Kurz told reporters Monday that “in my opinion, it's necessary to first agree on a date for new elections.”

Given the distribution of public support for Austria’s various parties, a coalition between at least two parties appears almost inevitable. The Freedom Party might actually be hurt by Kurz’s rise, analysts say, suggesting that he may poach some of its traditional voters. Nevertheless, the Freedom Party still has a good shot of being asked to help form a new government with Kurz’s People’s Party, or possibly even the Social Democrats.

[Defeat of far-right Austrian presidential candidate boosts E.U.]

Both mainstream parties campaigned last year against the Freedom Party's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/right-wing-candidate-concedes-defeat-in-austrian-presidential-vote/2016/05/23/4cb7cf2e-2069-11e6-b944-52f7b1793dae_story.html?utm_term=.03df7839b87d">Norbert Hofer</a>, who narrowly lost his bid for the ceremonial post of president. Ever since, both parties, already shifting to the right, have begun to sound even more like the Freedom Party on a number of key issues, particularly on immigrants. And neither party appears to be explicitly excluding the possibility of a coalition government with the Freedom Party.

The last time the Freedom Party formed part of the government — in the 2000s — the coalition was considered a failure, leading to a fissure among the party’s supporters. But since Hofer’s loss, the Freedom Party has moderated its stance on a number of issues. For instance, it has backed off suggestions that it might seek a referendum on leaving the European Union similar to one held last year in Britain.

Stephanie Kirchner

Berlin

Germany approves same-sex marriage, bringing it in line with much of Western Europe

Angela Merkel predicts showdown with U.S. over climate at G-20

German city evacuates 11-story building, fearing repeat of Grenfell blaze

Here’s why Germany’s left has dwindling hopes of unseating Merkel

In Germany, a new ‘feminist’ Islam is hoping to make a mark

The arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants is fueling a German identity crisis

Move toward early elections in Austria opens door for far right

German army officer disguised himself as refugee to carry out terrorist attack, investigators say

Suspect in Dortmund bus attack motivated by ‘greed’ rather than extremism

Germany requests arrest warrant for Iraqi suspect in soccer team bus blast