Auster
New member
From Germany.
http://www.spiegel.de/international...an-be-leveraged-to-learn-german-a-924031.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international...an-be-leveraged-to-learn-german-a-924031.html
The questions at the heart of the dispute are: Can immigrants be forced to learn German? Can people who decline such an offer be denied welfare benefits? Or, viewed from the other perspective, can immigrants who live off state benefits refuse to integrate into society, or can they live as a group as if on an island and free of societal obligations?
Ever since the disastrous collapse of his pizza enterprise seven years ago, Ismail K. hasn't worked -- at least not officially -- and the family has been forced to live off welfare. Whenever his local employment office in Weilberg encourages him to find a job, he counters that he has several debilitating ailments that prevent him from working: backaches, a damaged shoulder caused by a car accident, knee problems, diabetes and the depression triggered by his bankruptcy. The now 43-year-old often gets doctors' note freeing him from having to look for work.
Since he has rejected so many job offers, the employment office has cut his unemployment benefits -- first by 30 percent and then by 60. They eventually cut it off completely for three months. And that's when the authorities started taking a closer look at K.'s wife, Imhan, then 41 years old. But she had her hands full already. Four of the couple's six children were still living at home, and her husband wanted to be taken care of as well. On weekday evenings, she also worked as a cleaner for a temp agency.