Federal and state governments reach mini-agreement on refugee costs

From left: Markus Söder, Prime Minister of Bavaria (CSU), Bodo Ramelow, Prime Minister of Thuringia (Die Linke), Dietmar Woidke, Prime Minister of Brandenburg (SPD), Kai Wegner, Governing Mayor of Berlin (CDU)

The prime ministers and the federal government have discussed how to proceed with the refugee issue.

(Photo: IMAGO/photo booth)

Berlin At a summit meeting in the Chancellery, the federal and state governments agreed on a minimum compromise on refugee costs. According to this, the federal government will pay one billion euros more for the states and municipalities for the year 2023 because of the increased number of refugees. This is intended to support the federal states in further relieving their municipalities and financing the digitization of the immigration authorities, according to the joint resolution of the federal and state governments.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) originally said that the federal government could no longer pay.

“This is a good day for federalism, which shows that if we have to pull ourselves together, we do it,” said Scholz after the consultations. The decisions taken are “clear and comprehensive”.

“These were the difficult talks that everyone had expected,” said Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD). “But it was worth it.”

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