Germany’s drive to recruit international talent is gathering pace. New figures show that reforms to immigration rules are bringing increasing numbers of skilled professionals from non-EU countries to help fill critical labour shortages. Since the Skilled Immigration Act came into force in 2020, around 765,000 people from non-EU countries have been granted residence permits linked to employment or skilled migration, …

As geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty reshape the global landscape, a new EU-wide survey shows that Europeans are looking increasingly to the European Union for stability, security and collective action. Nine out of ten Europeans believe EU member states should stand more united in responding to global challenges, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Parliament. The …

A new Bertelsmann Stiftung study finds that despite chronic labour shortages, thousands of qualified migrants in Germany are working far below their skill level, highlighting a costly mismatch that affects both the economy and migrant communities. For Africans among the country’s 5.9 million foreign workers, the findings confirm a familiar frustration. Germany urgently needs skilled workers, yet a new study …

July 2026 ushers in a wide-ranging package of legal and policy changes that will affect millions of people across Germany. The reforms span key areas of everyday life, including social welfare, pensions, taxation, healthcare, consumer rights, transport and travel. While some measures will boost personal incomes or make public services easier to access, others introduce stricter rules and new responsibilities. …

From 1 July, Germany’s long-term unemployment benefit has a new name, tougher sanctions and a stricter savings rule. Here is what changes, what stays the same, and what African claimants should do now. _______ From 1 July 2026, Bürgergeld, the benefit that millions of jobseekers in Germany have received since 2023, has been replaced by Grundsicherung (Basic Income Support). For …

Germany’s Muslim population has reached between 6.6 and 7 million people, according to a new projection by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, BAMF). This represents 8.0 to 8.5 percent of the total population, a figure that challenges persistent public misperceptions, with surveys consistently showing that Germans dramatically overestimate the actual proportion of Muslims …

By Collins Nweke On a recent evening in Brussels, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote address at the launch of The City He Never Returned To, a remarkable new novel by a Nigerian-born Belgian writer, Ibekwe Paul Chukwuemeka. The book is ostensibly about the Nigerian Civil War, memory, healing and national repair. But as I reflected afterwards, I …

Refugee and asylum-seeking children in Germany are now entitled to significantly better healthcare, following changes that took effect on 12 June under the implementation of the European Union’s new asylum system. __________ While much of the EU’s Common European Asylum System (GEAS) introduces stricter border procedures and faster asylum processing, one aspect of the reform brings a clear benefit for …

In a judgment delivered on 11 June 2026, a Berlin court awarded financial compensation to a Black German man after finding that he had been subjected to racial discrimination during a police identity check. The ruling is seen as an important application of Berlin’s State Anti-Discrimination Act _______ A Berlin court has ordered the state to pay €500 in compensation …

Twenty years after Germany introduced its landmark anti-discrimination law, campaigners say the legislation has helped improve legal protection against unequal treatment but no longer reflects the realities of discrimination in modern society. The General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz – AGG) came into force on 18 August 2006 to protect people from discrimination based on ethnic origin, race, gender, religion …