The federal government is paying the federal states and municipalities a flat rate of two billion euros this year, regardless of how many people actually arrive in Germany. “But it is already clear that the federal funds will not be enough – for childcare, school, care or to care for people with disabilities,” said the deputy general manager of the German Association of Cities, Verena Göppert, the Handelsblatt. “The countries must therefore reach into their own pockets and top up what is missing.”
The Association of Towns and Municipalities recalled that the municipalities had already made advance payments “on a large scale”. For example, halls have been rebuilt, catering organized, security services commissioned, and additional daycare and school places set up. “In individual cases, costs of up to 2,900 euros per refugee have arisen,” said managing director Gerd Landsberg of the Handelsblatt.
In some cases, the states had already helped in anticipation of the money from the federal government. “But this help can only be the beginning,” emphasized Landsberg. “The states not only have to pass on the federal funds, but also use their own funds to ensure that the sometimes highly indebted municipalities can master the Herculean task.”
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Kay Ruge, deputy general manager of the German District Association, pointed out that the agreed financial resources have so far only been decided by the Prime Ministers’ Conference, but that there is still no corresponding law. “We expect the federal states to compensate for the burdens on the municipalities in full and promptly, regardless of the status of the legislative process,” Ruge told the Handelsblatt.
After many hours of negotiations, the federal and state governments recently agreed on a distribution of the costs of caring for Ukrainian war refugees. They should therefore receive basic security.
City Day: A lack of long-term financing creates planning uncertainty
In addition, the federal government is paying the federal states and municipalities a flat rate of two billion euros this year: 500 million euros to help the municipalities more with accommodation costs, and 500 million euros as an advance payment to the federal states for the costs that have arisen up to June and are still to come . In addition, one billion euros flows as a contribution to the integration costs, for example for daycare and school places and health care.
>> Also read here: Life as a war refugee in Germany: “The Russians are stealing our lives.”
However, there are already indications that the federal government as a whole will probably have to increase the aid again. Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) justified this by saying that nobody can say today how many refugees from Ukraine are still coming and how long they will stay. The agreement between the federal and state governments can therefore only be provisional and will be reviewed in autumn.
Verena Göppert from the City Council complained that the federal and state governments had not yet agreed on how the financing would continue after 2022. “And the decision on how the federal government would contribute to the costs of integration was postponed,” she said. “This creates planning uncertainty in the municipalities.”
The general manager of the Association of Towns, Landsberg, therefore assumes that after an inventory in the second half of the year, funds for 2023 will also be decided. “Because this is the only way for the municipalities to have financial planning security,” he said.
Berlin: “In the beginning we were quite alone”
Some countries, such as Berlin, have to shoulder particular burdens. Many refugees arrived in the capital first from the start and often want to stay there. That is why there had been tensions with the federal government from the start about what it could and must do to relieve the capital.
>> Also read here: These Ukrainian entrepreneurs want to help their compatriots find jobs
“In the beginning we were quite alone,” said Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) of the situation. “Now things are going much better because the nationwide distribution of refugees has started.”
This means that the refugees are distributed among the 16 countries according to the Königstein key, which is based on tax revenue and the number of inhabitants. However, this only applies to those who are not accommodated privately but in communal facilities.
Berlin’s Senator for Social Affairs, Katja Kipping, emphasized that the nationwide distribution key must be “legally binding”. In an interview with the Handelsblatt, the left-wing politician reported on several cases in which people had been sent back to Berlin.
One problem with the distribution of the refugees is that the authorities still do not have an overview of how many people from Ukraine are actually here and where they are staying. In the meantime, more than 340,000 refugees have been counted by the federal police, mostly women, children and the elderly. But everyone assumes much higher numbers. Because people with a Ukrainian passport can enter the country without a visa – and stay for 90 days without registering.
Reservations about new registration system for refugees
The next problem is the registry. War refugees from Ukraine are to receive basic state security from June 1st through the job center – i.e. the same benefits as, for example, Hartz IV recipients. However, in order for the job centers to be able to fulfill their tasks, they need the basic data on the refugees. Cities and municipalities are heavily burdened by the registration.
>> Read also: How will Ukraine come to peace? “There is a way out of this spiral of aggression”
There are also technical difficulties with the registration devices. Some of the state devices are equipped with different software systems than those used by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The federal government hopes to find a remedy with the BAMF’s newly developed registration and distribution system for refugees from Ukraine called “Free”. This should make it easier to record the name, date of birth, nationality and other personal data of everyone who arrives.
In the municipalities, however, “Free” is viewed with great skepticism. “A new system must enable an orderly and even distribution, but also make registration significantly easier,” said district day manager Ruge. “We don’t see that at the moment.” The district council rather fears “additional effort”. “This is due to the lack of interfaces and the resulting need to enter data manually into the new system and the central register of foreigners,” said Ruge.
Ruge sees a similar problem in the care of the refugees, if the benefits are no longer to be processed according to the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, but via the basic security according to the Social Security Code II. “Here, too, it is imperative to ensure that the data sets can be transferred digitally,” said Ruge. “This is currently not guaranteed, especially in the case of the municipal job centers.”
More: “This chaos endangers women and children” – Union sees serious shortcomings in the reception of refugees.