Dresden’s local parliament has approved a municipal payment card for asylum seekers – at the request of the AfD. The mayor wants to revise the decision.
Dresden’s mayor Dirk Hilbert (FDP) has contradicted the city council’s decision to introduce a separate payment card for asylum seekers in the Saxon state capital. The city administration’s examination of the decision showed that its implementation would be disadvantageous for Dresden, the city announced on Thursday.
Due to the objection, the city council will have to deal with the application again at its next meeting on April 18th. The vote made national headlines because CDU votes gave the AfD initiative a majority.
Firewall restored
“As city leaders, the councilors and I welcome the nationwide introduction of a payment card for refugees,” said Hilbert, according to the statement. However, developing and introducing your own card in the meantime does not make sense.
Last week, the city council approved an AfD application to introduce its own payment card for asylum seekers in Dresden – also with votes from the CDU, FDP and Free Voters. The CDU federal chairman Friedrich Merz sharply criticized the behavior of his party colleagues: The CDU has always said that it would not agree to AfD proposals regardless of which parliament. This approach is referred to as the so-called firewall to the right.
The federal and state governments have agreed to make part of the state benefits for asylum seekers available as credit on a payment card in the future. However, it is still unclear when a legal basis that has already been introduced by the Federal Cabinet will be decided in the Bundestag. The specific design of the map is the responsibility of the states.
Criticism from the AfD
According to Hilbert, a Dresden map would not be ready before the nationwide solution because it would have to be advertised nationwide. “The implementation of the decision would also tie up administrative staff’s working time and cause costs for which there is no financial cover,” argued the mayor. According to the announcement, the forecast costs are between 140,000 and 230,000 euros with a three-month period of use as the minimum period.
The chairman of the AfD Dresden district association, André Wendt, criticized the contradiction. Hilbert “apparently couldn’t cope with the fact that an AfD proposal – on such an important issue – was approved by a majority,” he said.
According to the Saxon municipal code, the mayor can object to resolutions if he is of the opinion that they are disadvantageous for the municipality. If it is illegal, he is obliged to do so. In his objection, Hilbert points out that if the decision were to be made again, the illegality of the application would have to be examined due to the lack of financial support.
Source: Stern
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