Berlin - Germany needs to admit at least 50,000 skilled immigrants each year to address labour shortages caused by the country's rapidly shrinking population, according to a cross-party commission, writes Derek Scally.
Immigrants should be selected by a points system that favours young multi-lingual skilled workers, the commission said in its report
"Our country is an immigration country [and] to secure our prosperity and our future, we are dependent on people from other countries with skills that we desperately need," said Ms Rita Sussmuth, commission head and former parliamentary speaker of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).