After the Second World War, Germany could not recruit labor from the Eastern part of Germany or the neighboring states in the East (Poland, Czechoslovakia or Hungary). At the time of the economic boom in the fifties and sixties, treaties on the recruitment of labor were therefore concluded with more distant countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Morocco, Tunisia, Yugoslavia and Turkey. Special attention should be paid to the relationship between Germany and Turkey.

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After the Second World War, Germany could not recruit labor from the Eastern part of Germany or the neighboring states in the East (Poland, Czechoslovakia or Hungary). At the time of the economic boom in the fifties and sixties, treaties on the recruitment of labor were therefore concluded with more distant countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Morocco, Tunisia, Yugoslavia and Turkey. Special attention should be paid to the relationship between Germany and Turkey. Several German Ministries like the Federal Labor Office, the Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior and the Economy Ministry worked together to draft the details of the recruitment agreement with Turkey, and all the efforts resulted in the "verbal note" of October 30, 1961 which included the following three points:

1. Workers’ permits could be issued to Turkish workers with a validity of up to three years; labor and residence permits were limited to two years. This regulation suited the Turkish government’s goal of benefiting Turkish industry with a well-trained work force that would be returning from Germany.

2. The medical examination at the Istanbul Liaison Office would be conducted not only to determine the suitability of the workers for their destined work place, but also to protect the German population from epidemics.

3. There was no possibility of family reunion for foreign workers (a condition which was present in German agreements with other countries) . This restriction was to prevent long-term stays and immigration. Turkish government officials agreed with this position. This agreement was improved thanks to the efforts of a few assertive Turkish bureaucrats and diplomats on September 1964 by adding several positive changes like fairer application of rules on family allowance.

As the German government decided to withdraw from the recruitment treaties in 1973, after the first oil crisis, the presence of Turkish workers on German soil became a source of tension. The economic situation in Turkey was not attractive for a mass return and from 1975 onwards the migration for "family reunification" from Turkey increased. Following the military coup of 1980 in Turkey, political refugees and Kurds also joined this migratory movement. Between 1974 and 1983 1.150.000 persons went to Germany from Turkey and 986.000 left to return to Turkey.

Nowadays, the presence of approximately 2.4 million people of Turkish origin in Germany is an important factor of bilateral relations and a number of social policy agreements between the two countries have come into force. In particular these include the social insurance agreement of 1964 together with an additional agreement of 1984, which effectively gives Turks and Germans equal status in each others' country with regard to health, pensions and accident insurance. Turkish workers can have the employee's pension contribution paid out to them on their return to Turkey if they do not take up any employment in Turkey which is subject to social insurance contributions. Financial transfers from Germany to Turkey on the basis of the social insurance agreement currently have a volume of several million euros per year and are expected to increase considerably. Moreover, an agreement on work and services contracts was concluded in 1991 under which up to 4.000 employees (mainly in the construction industry) have been allowed to work in Germany since 1998.

The German Government extended support with regard to Turkey's candidacy to the European Union and Germany's efforts have been instrumental in EU's official recognition of Turkey's candidacy. In 1963 the European Communities and Turkey signed the Association Agreement ("Ankara Agreement") which, together with the protocol added in 1970, lay down basic objectives in their relations, such as the continuous and balanced strengthening of trade and economic relations and the establishment, in three phases, of a customs union but also the free movement of workers. Decision 1/95 of the Association Council (31 December 1995) completed the final phase of the customs union and gave significant impetus to Turkey's efforts to align its national legislation with that of the Community. (Decision No 1/95 of the EC-Turkey Association Council of 22 December 1995).

Since early 1991 Germany has signed bilateral agreements about seasonal work (up to 3 months in any one year) with some non-EC states. For this purpose the Federal Republic has made procedural agreements with the employment services of Croatia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria (for the latter country only occupations in the hotel and catering industry) for placement in short-term employment.

Germany has entered into bilateral "totalization" agreements with 22 countries, including the United States of America, Canada, Japan, and Switzerland. The general concept of "totalization" agreements is that an employee who would otherwise be covered by both social security systems will be covered only by the social security system of the country where he or she provides services ("territoriality rule").

Often totalization agreements do not automatically apply. Employees who are exempt from German social security must document their exemption by obtaining a Certificate of Coverage from the country that will continue to cover them. In addition to providing better social security coverage, totalization agreements ensure continuity of benefit accrual for persons who have acquired social security credits under more than one system.

Germany has recently signed several bilateral agreements with the Eastern European neighboring states designed to supplement the Schengen agreement on taking back illegal immigrants which has been effective since 01 May 1991. One of such agreements was signed by in 1993. The agreement signed in 1993 by Poland and Germany was the basis for the "Akcja Obcy/Aktion Fremde" (1998) , a joint measure of border guards and police who constantly check on refugees and migrants. This measure resulted in 6.000 deportations during the first year of the measure alone (Jäger-Dabek 2002). In 1995, a corresponding agreement was made between the Czech Republic and Germany. The most recent bilateral agreement Germany entered into is the agreement with Slovakia on the taking back of persons who traveled from Slovakia to Germany without having valid papers or vice versa. In order to push the bilateral agreements on taking back illegal immigrants through, the states involved reinforce the cooperation of border officials and border police.

The Federal Republic of Germany has concluded agreements on extradition, mutual legal assistance and police co/operation with a large number of countries to combat trafficking. Several additional agreements of this kind are about to be ratified.

Analysis provided by: Antonella C. Attardo PhD (History of Law), Italy.

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