Bavarian party backtracks over call for immigrants to speak German at home

Source: Associated Press

One of Germany’s governing parties backpedalled from a call for immigrants to speak German even at home, giving way in the face of a storm of criticism and mockery even from allies.

The conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) was on the defensive on Monday over a draft motion drawn up by senior officials for a party conference this week, stating that people wanting permanent residency “should be urged to speak German in public and in the family.”

Peter Tauber, general secretary of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said on Twitter it’s “none of politicians’ business whether I speak Latin, Klingon or Hessian at home,” referring to his home region’s dialect.

Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s vice-chancellor, said no one in his centre-left party “would come up with the idea of banning immigrants from speaking their mother tongue, and I am sure that we will never reach this level of political dementia.”



Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/08/row-calls-immigrants-speak-german-home