Germany's preferences on the freedom of movement provisions of the Ankara Agreement: the Wirtschaftswunder and opportunity and effort of Turkish diplomacy

Why did Germany support provisions on freedom of movement for Turkish workers in the Association Agreement between the European Economic Community (EEC) and Turkey, which was concluded in 1963? This is puzzling given that Germany was fervently opposed to other common EU measures on legal economic migration since immigration policy was communitarized by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1999. The papers test two hypotheses. First, that the a positive economic situation induces the German government to support common EU measures as in periods of strong growth Germany has more open immigration policies and there is a positive relationship between open national immigration policies and support for common EU measures. Second, a sending country (or a group of sending countries) needs to exert diplomatic pressure on the German government in order for it to support common EU measures on legal economic migration. For this to be successful there need to be two conditions in place, the sending country must have the opportunity to exert influence, due to strong historical ties with Germany or being important for geo-political reasons, and frame the need for common EU measures on legal migration in an effective manner. The hypotheses are confirmed for the case of Turkey and the Ankara Agreement and are used to assemble a theoretically eclectic and generally applicable framework able to explain Germany’s support for common EU measures on legal economic migration

Beyond Crisis Management: The Path Towards an Effective, Pro-active and Fair European Refugee Policy. Bertelsmann Study

Europe urgently needs an effective, pro-active and fair refugee policy. Short-sighted policy-making and a narrow focus on what seemed to be in the immediate national interests have led to a conglomerate of European refugee policies. These policies are clearly ineffective and resulted in a large and partially uncontrolled refugee movement to and within Europe in 2015. Refugee flows to Europe are unlikely to subside soon, as many conflicts persist and the average duration of protracted refugee situations worldwide is on the rise. In a reaction to these circumstances, the European Com-mission has proposed a number of initiatives to reform the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). Consensus is more likely on the introduction of restrictions and sanctions rather than, for example, fair distribution systems or pooling sovereignty on the EU level by establishing a strong EU Agency of Asylum. Yet, especially pro-active solutions that meet Europe’s humanitarian responsi-bilities are necessary. The paper puts forward policy-recommendations for a paradigm-shift from reactive to pro-active refugee policies. The overarching objective is to create further legal channels for refugees to seek protection in Europe. Measures include both national and EU-policies and are supposed to pave the way to a sustainable and coherent European refugee policy. The policy recommendations are clus-tered in five overarching themes: create safe passages to protection, improve national asylum processing and integration systems, establish further legal pathways for mixed migration, enable protection in the region of origin, and tackle the root causes of forced migration through a sustainable foreign, economic and trade policy. Finally, it has to be stressed that only if we can restore Europe’s political will to manage refugee flows together, there will be sustainable solutions in sight. Regular dialogue taking into account the different resources and histories of the countries are the way forward. If member states can incrementally alight their different national policies, a comprehensive European refugee policy may follow. Given the current political differences amongst member states, this will be a lengthy process – but certainly worth the effort

Parallel Genetic Algorithm for the DAG Vertex Splitting Problem

Directed Acyclic Graphs (DGAs) are often used to model circuits and networks. The path length in such DAGs represents circuit or network delays. In the vertex splitting problem, the objective is to determine a minimum number of vertices from the graph to split such that the resulting graph has no path of length greater than a given maximum delay δ. The problem has been proven to be NP-hard. A sequential Genetic Algorithm has been developed to solve the DAG Vertex Splitting Problem. Unlike a standard Genetic Algorithm, this approach uses a variable chromosome length to represent the vertices that split the graph and a dynamic population size. A parallel version of the sequential Genetic Algorithm has been developed. It uses a fully distributed scheme to assign different string lengths to processors. A ring exchange method is used in order to exchange ’’good” individuals between processors. Almost linear speed-up and two cases of super linear speed-up are reported

Analysis of GRACE range-rate residuals with focus on KBR instrument system noise

We investigate the post-fit range-rate residuals after the gravity field parameter estimation from the inter-satellite ranging data of the gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) satellite mission. Of particular interest is the high-frequency spectrum (f gt 20 MHz) which is dominated by the microwave ranging system noise. Such analysis is carried out to understand the yet unsolved discrepancy between the predicted baseline errors and the observed ones. The analysis consists of two parts. First, we present the effects in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNRs) of the k-band ranging system. The SNRs are also affected by the moon intrusions into the star cameras field of view and magnetic torque rod currents in addition to the effects presented by Harvey et al. [2016]. Second, we analyze the range-rate residuals to study the effects of the KBR system noise. The range-rate residuals are dominated by the non-stationary errors in the high-frequency observations. These high-frequency errors in the range-rate residuals are found to be dependent on the temperature and effects of sun intrusion into the star cameras field of view reflected in the SNRs of the K-band phase observations

The Unfolding Story of a Redox Chaperone

Oxidative stress, especially in combination with heat stress, poses a life-threatening challenge to many organisms by causing protein misfolding and aggregation. In this issue, Reichmann et al. demonstrate how a destabilized linker region of the bacterial chaperone Hsp33 prevents aggregation of a denatured protein by stabilizing structural elements

Attracting highly qualified and qualified third-country nationals: Focussed Study of the German National Contact Point for the European Migration Network (EMN)

Die Studie stellt die nationale Strategie und die Maßnahmen zur Gewinnung von hochqualifizierten und qualifizierten Drittstaatsangehörigen in prägnanter Form dar. Zudem enthält es eine statistische Übersicht der Zuwanderung dieses Personenkreises und geht auf Herausforderungen und Hindernisse ein. Das deutsche Aufenthaltsrecht bietet ausländischen Fachkräften umfangreiche Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten und ist auch im Vergleich mit den anderen Industriestaaten relativ liberal. Untergesetzliche Maßnahmen, wie Informationsplattformen, flankieren die rechtlichen Regelungen. Die Zuwanderung von Fachkräften nach Deutschland nahm in den letzten Jahren zu und lag im Jahr 2012 bei rund 27.000 Drittstaatsangehörigen. Ein direkter Kausalzusammenhang zu den politischen Maßnahmen lässt sich jedoch nicht herstellen. Hochqualifizierte Drittstaatsangehörige wandern nicht ausschließlich unter den für sie vorgesehenen Aufenthaltstiteln zu (§§ 19 und 20 des Aufenthaltsgesetzes sowie seit 1. August 2012 § 19a des Aufenthaltsgesetzes - Blaue Karte EU): Ein erheblicher Anteil erhält stattdessen eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur qualifizierten Beschäftigung gemäß § 18 Abs. 4 des Aufenthaltsgesetzes. Im Jahr 2012 erteilte die Bundesagentur für Arbeit 25.921 Zustimmungen, die einer qualifizierten Beschäftigung gemäß § 18 Abs. 4 des Aufenthaltsgesetzes zuzuordnen sind. Schätzungen ergeben, dass davon zwischen 53 Prozent und 87 Prozent an hochqualifizierte Drittstaatsangehörige vergeben wurden. Hinzu kommt eine nicht unerhebliche Anzahl Hochqualifizierter, die für eine Beschäftigung gemäß § 18 Abs. 4 des Aufenthaltsgesetzes einreisen, die keine Zustimmung der Bundesagentur für Arbeit erfordert und somit nicht in deren Zustimmungsstatistik auftauchen. Die Zuwanderungsregeln für Fachkräfte werden zum Teil von deutschen Unternehmen (insbesondere von kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen), aber auch von einigen Fachkräften selbst, weiterhin als kompliziert wahrgenommen, obwohl Deutschland laut OECD mittlerweile zu den Industrieländern mit den geringsten Hürden für die Zuwanderung hochqualifizierter Arbeitskräfte gehört. Die OECD empfiehlt aber, die Zuwanderungsmöglichkeiten in Fachberufen, die keinen Hochschulabschluss voraussetzen zu verbessern, zum Beispiel auch durch stärkere Berücksichtigung humankapitalorientierter Steuerungselemente. Das Working Paper 53 wurde von der deutschen Kontaktstelle für das Europäische Migrationsnetzwerk (EMN) im Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge als Teilbericht zu einer europäisch-vergleichend angelegten Studie erarbeitet und aus EU-Mitteln kofinanziert.Germany's residence law offers skilled workers from third countries broad employment options and is relatively liberal compared to other industrialised nations. Subsidiary measures, such as information platforms, complement the statutory regulations. The immigration of skilled workers to Germany increased in recent years and in the year 2012 was at around 27,000 third-country nationals. However, a direct causal relationship between this increase and political measures cannot be established. Highly qualified third-country nationals do not immigrate exclusively to obtain the residence titles intended for them (Sections 19 and 20 German Residence Act as well as, since 1 August 2012, Section 19a German Residence Act - EU Blue Card): A significant portion instead obtain a residence permit for qualified employment under Section 18, Subs. 4 German Residence Act. In 2012, the Federal Employment Agency issued 25,921 approvals for qualified employment under Section 18, Subs. 4 German Residence Act. Estimates show that of those, between 53 % and 87 % were issued to highly qualified third-country nationals. Then there is the not insignificant portion of highly qualified persons who entered under Section 18, Subs. 4 German Residence Act, without requiring approval from the Federal Employment Agency, and who thus do not appear in the approval statistics of the Federal Employment Agency. The immigration rules for skilled workers continue to be considered by German companies (especially small- and medium-sized businesses) and even by some qualified persons as somewhat complicated, even though the OECD finds that Germany by now belongs to the countries with the lowest hurdles for the immigration of highly skilled workers. However, the OECD recommends to supplement the current possibilities of immigration that do not require a university degree, for instance, also with a greater consideration of specific human capital criteria. Working Paper 53 was produced by the German Contact Point of the European Migration Network (EMN) at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees as a sub-report to a com-parative European study, and was co-financed by the European Union

Governmental preferences on liberalising economic migration policies at the EU level: Germany’s domestic politics, foreign policy, and labour market

The academic debate about European cooperation on immigration has focused on big treaty negotiations, presented an undifferentiated picture of the subfields of immigration, and has only recently begun to make use of the abundant literature on national immigration policies. As a macrostructure, this study uses a bureaucratic politics framework to understand the preference formation of national governments on liberalising economic migration policies. This allows unpacking the process of preference formation and linking it to a number of causal factors, which, by influencing the cost and benefits distribution of the relevant actors – intra-ministerial actors, employer associations, trade unions, and other sub-state actors – shape the position of the government. The influence of the causal factors is underpinned by different theories derived from the literatures on Europeanisation, immigration policy-making, and foreign policy. Germany is used as a longitudinal case study with four cases within it, as it has undergone a U-turn in a way no other relevant Member State has, from a keen supporter of EU involvement to being highly sceptical with regard to economic migration policies at the EU level. The empirical data is based on 43 open-ended interviews, archival research and newspaper analysis. The bureaucratic politics framework supplanted with the theoretical strands of domestic politics and foreign policy concerns provides a number of themes that can explain why and under what conditions a Member State supports liberalising economic migration policies at the EU level from 1957 until the Treaty of Lisbon. The thesis argues that if the European policy measure applies to a particular group of sending countries and the domestic salience of immigration is low, sending countries can lobby Member State governments to support EU-level liberalisation of immigration policies. The misfit between the existing national regulations for economic migration and European-level policies cannot be significant as otherwise the economic and political adaptation costs for actors involved are too high. A heated national debate on immigration is negatively related to governmental support for such measures as the political costs of support skyrocket. Conversely, if the decision-making process happens bureaucratically, this helps to attain governmental support as the political costs of doing so are kept minimal

Skilled worker migration to Germany from third countries 2017. Bertelsmann Stiftung Factsheet Migration

Although skilled worker migration from non-EU countries is growing, it still remains low compared to the current labor supply. The ratio of immigrants from non-EU countries to internal EU immigrants is approaching those levels reached before the peak of refugee migration in 2015 and 2016