as freedom of the press and freedom of expression, must be fully supported by a social consensus. Given the background of a multicultural society in Germany, according to Lammert, rights must be linked to certain cultural values, and a nationwide debate on this issue was necessary, to re-establish such a link. The idea of multiculturalism was "perhaps originally well-intentioned", but had reached the end of its useful life. Multiculturalism could not be allowed to create a society where all values were equal – and therefore in practice had no values. In conflicts of values, society had to decide which values were valid, and which were not. Lammert insisted that he had never spoken of a German Leitkultur. The essential elements of the German culture were not specifically German, he said, and it would be better to speak of a European Leitkultur. (Deutschlandfunk interview with Lammert, reported in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 8 February 2006). Jörg Schönbohm also remains a vigorous advocate of a German core culture: in 2006 he suggested changing the name of the Berlin radio station radiomultikulti into 'Radio Schwarz-Rot-Gold' (black-red-gold, the colours of the flag of Germany). Immigrant tests The concept of Leitkultur figured prominently in the national debate about a test for immigrants to Germany. These tests are known in English as 'citizenship tests', see Life in the United Kingdom test, but they often apply to all immigrants, not just those seeking naturalisation. In Germany, the federal parliament (Bundestag) ultimately decided against a national immigrant test, but the 16 states can set their own tests, which can be based on an officially defined German culture and values. See also Cultural selection theory Ethnocentrism Immigration Jürgen Habermas Modernity Multiculturalism Nation-state Values References Further reading Bassam Tibi, Europa ohne Identität, Die Krise der multikulturellen Gesellschaft, 1998. Bassam Tibi, Multikultureller Werte-Relativismus und Werte-Verlust, In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschehen (Das Parlament), B 52–53/96, p. 27–36 Bassam Tibi, Leitkultur als Wertekonsens - Bilanz einer missglückten deutschen Debatte, In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschehen (Das Parlament), B 1–2/2001, p. 23–26 Theo Sommer, Der Kopf zählt, nicht das Tuch - Ausländer in Deutschland: Integration kann keine Einbahnstraße sein, ZEIT 30/1998 Theo Sommer, Einwanderung ja, Ghettos nein - Warum Friedrich Merz sich zu Unrecht auf mich beruft, ZEIT 47/2000 Interview: »Das Parlament hat kein Diskussionsmonopol« Der neue Bundestagspräsident Norbert Lammert über die Konkurrenz durch Talkshows und den Ansehensverlust der Politik, ZEIT 43/2005 Auch die