Berlin, Brussels In addition to the energy crisis, Europe is threatened with a new refugee crisis this winter. The numbers are back to where they were in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of war refugees from Syria filled German gyms. Since the war began in February, almost a million Ukrainians have fled to Germany alone.
In addition, significantly more people are arriving from other countries. In the first nine months of the current year, the EU border protection agency Frontex recorded more than 200,000 attempted illegal entries, half of them on the Western Balkans route. This is the highest value since 2016.
The rising numbers alarm politicians. At the beginning of the week, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) held a refugee summit with federal states and municipalities. The EU interior ministers also discussed this in Luxembourg on Friday.
“What we need is a European solution,” said Faeser in Luxembourg. Her Austrian colleague Gerhard Kramer (ÖVP) called for the fight against people smugglers on the western Balkan route to be “tougher and more consistent”.
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The situation is not yet comparable to 2015. Because the refugees from the Ukraine – 70 percent are women – are mainly accommodated privately, so there are no pictures of overcrowded gyms. Nevertheless, German municipalities warn of overloading.
Association of cities calls for the distribution of refugees in the EU
The German Association of Towns and Municipalities called for a binding regulation on the distribution of Ukraine war refugees in the EU. “We finally need a fair and just distribution key that all EU countries adhere to. So far, many have trusted in Germany’s goodwill in taking in a large proportion of the refugees in the EU,” said General Manager Gerd Landsberg of the Handelsblatt. “Only if this succeeds will the EU as a whole be able to overcome the crisis.”
Faeser had already campaigned with the EU interior ministers in the spring for more binding force in the distribution of refugees, but was unable to get his way. It was finally agreed that distribution should be voluntary. Faeser originally wanted to distribute the refugees among the EU countries by quota, but this was rejected by several Eastern European countries.
The Federal Minister of the Interior is committed to a European solution for taking in the refugees.
(Photo: Reuters)
Now the EU interior ministers have scaled back their ambitions significantly. They are currently concentrating on persuading Serbia to change its visa policy. Belgrade allows people from countries like India, Turkey and Tunisia to enter without a visa. From the point of view of the interior ministers, this contributes to the problems on the Western Balkans route.
“Serbia must adapt its visa practice to the EU,” said Faeser. Since the country is a candidate for accession, there are “very good arguments”. EU Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas was recently in Belgrade to press for a tightening of visa practices. Next week, Faeser wants to address the issue again at the Balkans Conference in Berlin.
Faeser also confirmed that controls at the German-Austrian border would be extended by six months. In addition, in the Czech border area, attempts to smuggle people by means of veil manhunts are to be prevented. Several interior ministers called for stricter controls at the Schengen external borders. “You can’t settle that bilaterally,” said Slovak Interior Minister Roman Mikulec.
But the impression of piecemeal remains. The optimism from the spring for a European solution is gone, said Luxembourg Interior Minister Jean Asselborn. There is a “patchwork of national solo efforts.” If this continues, it would be “a great help for the nationalist parties in Europe”.
Political scientists warn of the strengthening of the AfD
The Mainz political scientist Kai Arzheimer sees it similarly. Due to the high inflation, the uncertainty about the energy supply, the effects of the corona pandemic and the tense international situation, many Germans already perceive the situation as a crisis, he said.
The AfD is already benefiting from this. “If the municipalities have difficulties in accommodating and caring for refugees in the next few months, that will weigh on the mood even more and thus at least indirectly benefit the AfD,” he said.
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The municipalities are demanding from the federal and state governments that the refugee costs for accommodation, care, daycare and school places be taken over as a national task. “This must not be combined with the so-called third relief package,” said Landsberg, head of the Association of Cities. The refugee issue has nothing to do with the issues in the relief package.
The federal states are demanding considerable help from the federal government in other areas for their approval of the third relief package. Central are the costs for the integration of the Ukraine refugees, help for the hospitals, more federal money for local transport and the complete assumption of the housing benefit costs by the federal government. The housing benefit is to be expanded significantly. So far it has been funded equally by the federal and state governments, but the states no longer want to take part.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had only promised that by the end of the year there should be talks about how the federal government could support the states with refugee costs.
The municipalities see the accommodation and care for the refugees as a national task.
(Photo: dpa)
Landsberg said the federal and state governments had always assured that additional funds would be made available to the municipalities if the number of refugees increased. “This is exactly the case now, which is why not only a commitment for 2023 is required, but also an additional assumption of the additional costs for 2022,” he said. The financing issues will be discussed again in Berlin at the beginning of November.
From Arzheimer’s point of view, the public discussion is currently giving the impression that the municipalities are overwhelmed and the required funds are not being made available because the federal and state governments cannot agree politically. It is clear that the municipalities must be equipped in such a way that they can fulfill their tasks. “However, such debates are generally fatal for the confidence of the citizens in the problem-solving ability of politics, almost regardless of how big the financial and administrative problems really are,” explained the politics professor.
More: High number of refugees pushes German cities to their limits.