Germany's birth rate of 1.4 has been falling for decades (no matter how generous child benefit is, the government can apparently do little to increase the number of children being born). And while the population is stable at the moment, it is ageing fast. Without more immigration, the population could shrink over the next 30 years by around 16 per cent to about 69 million from nearly 82 million now. Losing 13 million people would probably bring Europe's biggest economy down a notch or two. 

Last year, Germany saw an increase in immigration, which will probably rise even further this year. No wonder then that the tone of debate got just a little icier when we moved into the New Year (on January 1, EU controls on Bulgaria and Romania ended).

David Cameron's plan to place limits on immigration, after stating that Europe had now witnessed the biggest migration outside wartime, famously drew criticism from the EU employment commissioner, László Andor: Britain risked being seen as a "nasty country", he said. Be that as it may, Merkel has been presenting herself as the opposite, pleasing all parties by announcing a minimum wage while promising a crackdown on unlawful social security claims. Her two-pronged approach is understandable: any German must want to avoid the sleazy xenophobia that comes from right-wing parties such as the Front National in France, and that so easily associates itself with the question of limiting or controlling migration.

And yet, while EU commissioners warned the UK to avoid hysteria and stick to the facts, one couldn't help feeling that a debate which is open and doesn't shy away from becoming, at times, hysterical, is just what may be needed in Germany. In that sense, it is a cultural question as much as a political necessity. Only when the arguments are out in the open can one arrive at a welcoming attitude towards foreigners and a positive, healthy model of immigration, such as has held the US together so well for so long.