In many places there is a lack of affordable housing, day-care centers and teachers for German courses. Caring for refugees is a major challenge for local authorities. So does Scholz have to intervene himself?
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to organize a new refugee summit at the end of February or beginning of March. In the meantime, more and more municipalities are complaining about capacity bottlenecks in the accommodation and integration of people seeking protection. The meeting with the representatives of the municipal umbrella organizations and the conference of interior ministers should take place within the next two to three weeks, said the spokesman for her ministry, Maximilian Kall, in Berlin. Opinions differ as to whether that is enough.
The announcement of this meeting was “certainly not wrong, but it’s not enough,” said Green Party leader Omid Nouripour after a meeting of his party’s federal executive committee in Berlin. Because there is a high “pressure to act” at all levels. The Federal Minister of the Interior must take care of a better distribution of those seeking protection within Germany and a larger range of German courses. A third problem area is the lack of living space.
Municipalities are demanding support from the Federal Chancellor
The German District Association wants Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to take care of limiting irregular migration and the problems of caring for refugees himself. President Reinhard Sager warns: “There is a lack of housing, daycare places, teachers for schools and language courses. This is one of the reasons why social tensions are increasing.” In this situation, the districts need political support from the Chancellery. Only Scholz has the “overarching competence in all issues that affect us”.
The last time there was a refugee summit at the Federal Minister of the Interior was in October last year. At that time, Faeser had offered further federal real estate for the accommodation of refugees. Your spokesman now said the federal government had provided housing for a total of 67,877 people. About 64 percent of this would be used.
Union wants “larger refugee summit in the Chancellery”
The deputy chairwoman of the Union faction, Andrea Lindholz (CSU), also called for “a larger refugee summit in the chancellery” in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. Many municipalities no longer have the capacity to take in more refugees. The CSU politician called for incentives that caused an additional flow of refugees to be removed. The spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior emphasized that Faeser is constantly coordinating with the Federal Chancellor on the issue of caring for the refugees.
MP Clara Bünger (left) thinks it is important that the municipalities receive support, regardless of whether the meeting takes place in the Chancellery or at Faeser. Bünger suggested “questioning the rigid distribution and accommodation system for asylum seekers”. Instead of being strictly based on a capacity key of the countries, as has been the practice up to now, the social networks and needs of the arriving people must be asked about.
More than a million war refugees from Ukraine
In Germany, 217,774 people applied for asylum for the first time last year – more than since 2016. Most of these asylum seekers came from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq and Georgia. Since the start of the Russian war of aggression almost a year ago, Germany has also taken in more than a million war refugees from Ukraine who do not have to apply for asylum.
Federal financial aid to the federal states was decided at a prime ministerial conference in early November. At that time, the federal government provided an additional 1.5 billion euros for the care of refugees from Ukraine, among others, in 2022. Two billion euros had previously been pledged specifically for taking in war refugees from Ukraine. For 2023 it was agreed that the federal government would pay 1.5 billion euros for the Ukraine refugees. An annual lump sum of 1.25 billion euros was announced for those seeking protection from other countries.
It doesn’t help the municipalities to be referred to flat-rate federal payments to the states, Sager noted from the district council. He called for “effective and direct support for the municipalities on the part of the federal government”. The Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD), sees the state governments as primarily responsible for this. She said: “I expect the federal states to pass on the massive support from the federal government one-to-one to the municipalities.”
European solution for unauthorized entries unrealistic
The financial issues are very important for the cities and communities. The municipal umbrella organizations also expect more commitment from the federal government in reducing the number of unauthorized entries. In addition, progress in supporting the countries in the repatriation of foreigners who are obliged to leave the country is called for.
This Friday, Faeser will receive EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson. However, it is probably unrealistic to hope for a short-term European solution. Because the member states are divided on the question of financing border fences with EU funds. Germany is among those who are against it. The same applies to the question of whether countries of origin that do not cooperate properly with the readmission of their citizens should be put under pressure via EU visa policy. There are also currently differences of opinion regarding how to deal with ships of sea rescuers who are heading for Italian ports. “We want legal escape routes to Germany. We want the dangerous escape routes across the Mediterranean to stop,” said Faeser on the sidelines of an event organized by the SPD parliamentary group.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
