So far, Germany has taken in more than a million refugees from Ukraine.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Before today’s federal-state meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the municipalities pointed out the difficult situation of refugee accommodation and called for help.
“The sheer number of refugees overall, but also the dynamics of immigration have long since reached or exceeded the dimensions of 2015/2016,” said the President of the German District Association, Reinhard Sager, the Handelsblatt. Many districts are no longer able to provide adequate accommodation, especially for the winter. “In many communities, resistance to the admission of further immigrants is already growing,” emphasized Sager.
The Association of Towns and Municipalities also pointed out that many municipalities had long since reached the limits of their accommodation options. “The federal and state governments must immediately agree to massively expand their initial reception facilities,” said general manager Gerd Landsberg to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Otherwise we will be in a very difficult situation if Russia continues to destroy infrastructure in Ukraine and the number of displaced people will continue to rise in the winter.”
The Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, Reem Alabali-Radovan, stated on Tuesday that the number of refugees from Ukraine who had been taken in by Germany was more than one million. There were also 160,000 people seeking protection from other countries, she said on Tuesday on ZDF’s “Morgenmagazin”.
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Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) recently warned that the municipalities were under heavy strain in view of the increasing number of war refugees and asylum seekers and were reaching the limits of their capacity.
Federal government makes billions in commitment for the care of refugees
With a view to the summit in the Chancellery, Landsberg called for a binding commitment that the federal and state governments would “finance the costs for accommodation, supplies, additional daycare and school places and integration work in full on a permanent basis”. Any further delay is unacceptable. “The necessary commitments would also be an important signal for the continued willingness to help on site,” he emphasized.
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District Council President Sager also called for greater efforts from the federal government. In view of the current number of refugees arriving, integration is sometimes “simply impossible because there are too few educators and places in schools,” said Sager. Therefore, the number of refugees must be limited. He also expects the federal government to expand the range of integration courses. In addition, the federal government must also support the municipalities “financially more significantly than last” with the costs of integration in daycare centers, schools and work.
As can be seen from a proposed resolution, the federal government is now offering states and municipalities a total of 4.25 billion euros this year and next for the care of refugees.
The federal government wants to provide an additional 1.5 billion euros in the current year for the reception of refugees. Funds of the same amount are earmarked for dealing with refugees from Ukraine in 2023.
For 2023, the federal government is also bringing a lump sum of 1.25 billion euros into play, which is intended to support the federal states and municipalities with their costs of taking in refugees from other countries. This new flat rate is intended to replace previous flat rates, in particular for unaccompanied minor refugees. “The federal and state governments will talk about further developments in Easter 2023,” the draft said.
The German Association of Cities emphasized the need for further funding commitments. “It is also about maintaining and strengthening the performance of the cities, especially in times of crisis,” said the President and Lord Mayor of Münster Markus Lewe (CDU) to the editorial network Germany (RND). “We urgently appeal to the federal and state governments to find viable solutions in their deliberations that do not burden the municipalities, but relieve them.”
More: The federal and state governments are arguing about refugee costs