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AfD’s Saxony-Anhalt Victory Spurs Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Push to End Dual Citizenship
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event: CDU Drafts Stricter Naturalisation Rules After AfD’s Record Win
Ahead of the September 6 state election in Saxony-Anhalt, Günter Krings, deputy chairman of the CDU/Christian Social Union (CSU) parliamentary group, disclosed a package of proposals that would abolish dual citizenship for new German citizens and raise the language and income thresholds for naturalisation. The proposals emerged after the Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured 43.8 % of the vote in that election – its first outright state-level victory and more than double its 2021 share on a 77.8 % turnout.
Background & Context: Recent Reforms to German Nationality Law
Germany’s citizenship regime was overhauled on June 27 2024 when the Act on the Modernisation of Nationality Law reduced the residence requirement from eight to five years, permitted most applicants to retain their previous nationality, and introduced a three-year fast-track for highly integrated candidates. The fast-track was repealed by a Bundestag vote scheduled for October 8 2025 (the repeal to take effect on October 30), leaving the five-year residence rule and dual-citizenship allowance intact. In March 2026, the AfD’s motion to restore the eight-year residency requirement and raise the language bar to B2 was rejected by a vote of 438-135.
Data & Statistics: Naturalisation Numbers and Dual-Citizenship Landscape
- 332,500 people were naturalised in 2025, a 14 % increase over the 2024 record of 291,955 – the highest annual totals since statistics began in 2000 (Federal Statistical Office, Destatis).
- Syrians accounted for 65,600 new citizens, Turkish nationals 34,100, and Russians 19,700; naturalisations of Americans rose to 6,600.
- The average residence period before naturalisation rose to 12.4 years in 2025 (up from 11.8 years in 2024).
- Destatis’ 2025 micro-census counted 4.03 million residents holding two citizenships, including 3.61 million German nationals. The most common second passports were Polish (458,000), Turkish (389,000), Russian (353,000), Syrian (243,000) and U.S. (103,000).
Official Statements & Responses
- Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt framed the 2025 fast-track repeal as a measure to reduce “pull factors” for irregular migration, suggesting that reopening the dual-citizenship question would require renegotiating the coalition agreement that preserves the current regime.
Criticism & Opposition
The SPD’s position directly opposes the CDU’s draft, emphasizing that any amendment to dual-citizenship rules would breach the coalition pact signed with the CDU. Klingbeil’s opposition signals that the proposals would need SPD consent before becoming law, a hurdle that has halted similar initiatives in the past.
What’s Next: Upcoming State Elections and Legislative Prospects
Berlin’s state parliament election is scheduled for September 20, the first major vote since the AfD’s Saxony-Anhalt breakthrough. The citizenship question is expected to remain a prominent campaign theme as parties gauge voter reaction to the CDU’s draft. Whether Krings’s proposals advance to a formal bill will depend on negotiations within the CDU-SPD coalition, which have not yet begun.
