Diego Carbonell | Hi all!
YO was right, I am really out of the loop now. As a matter of fact, I am writing this from Liverpool, UK, though I still work in Germany.
I am glad the law finally got passed. I agree with the idea of carefully moving the pieces to see what exactly is going to happen with GCs. By 1st. of January 2005 there will be GCs with less than a year to go, and it would be nice to have an idea way before that time.
Yet again, we got to be careful on how this pieces are moved. One year ago, we had a good momentum when Detlef was making the big calls. I can only hope my good friend Detlef is not too tired right now, because I still think our best chances of getting a decent spotlight are only if we lay low, we present a consistent message, we concentrate on the important and refuse to argue around the accesories.
As usual, much of the real stuff will be decided on how the law is implemented. I think a general outline of what we should present as a common face is: we are glad the law got through, we are grateful to this country and the opportunities we found here, and we are willing to continue to give our best under the new legal frame.
But please: let's not start discussing about social benefits, language courses or any other kind of state subvention!!! This is just crumbs, and doesn't make the point. Paradoxically, I think that the best chance we stand on closing this chapter in a happy and successful way is to just forget about benefits and concentrate in what we have to give.
This, I think, are the only things that makes us different -and important- as a group: we are already here, we speak the language, we live the culture, and we have already added value to our employers.
From where I see it, there is only a short way still to go. Only concentrating on what we can give, and in the big picture (and believe me, this is a huge step for Germany and Europe as a whole), we may be able to arrive to the one thing I believe is worth standing for: our peace of mind, the chance of planning and dreaming a future for our families, on the basis of a fair deal.
Cheers,
Diego aka Sudaca. |