Berlin Olaf Scholz (SPD) has increased the pressure. The Chancellor said he hoped the federal and state governments would “quickly and quickly come to an agreement” on the costs of caring for the Ukrainian refugees. “I wish that we didn’t have a long, long discussion about financial issues between the different levels.”
On Thursday afternoon, the chancellor will discuss the care of the refugees with the prime ministers in a video link. Shortly before the talks began, the positions were still far apart.
Scholz’ appeal can be an indication to his own coalition and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) not to skimp on the support of the federal states. But it is at least as much a message to the heads of government of the countries not to go too far with their demands.
In the past few weeks, a federal and state working group has tried to prepare a compromise – but with only moderate success. The prime ministers are “at 180,” it said. Long negotiations were expected on Thursday.
As the federal-state working group said, the average cost for a refugee is 1,400 euros a month. This also includes housing costs, costs for health insurance companies, schools and day care centers or psychological care for people traumatized by the war. In view of the 300,000 people assumed in the round of negotiations, it is a stately sum that the federal and state governments have to agree on how to divide.
Prime Minister Giffey: “It can’t work like that”
The list of country requirements is long. Among other things, they are demanding a transitional fee for the period in which the federal states in particular bear the costs. For this, the federal government should transfer them a sum of between 450 million and one billion euros, according to a draft resolution of the Prime Ministers’ Conference, which is available to the Handelsblatt.
Furthermore, the federal states want an integration allowance. Depending on the proposal, it ranges between twelve and 75 million euros per 10,000 refugees. For the current year there should be an advance payment of up to 1.3 billion euros, according to the wishes of some countries. However, the passages for the lump sums are still in brackets in the draft resolution, so there is no consensus.
Not only union-governed countries put pressure on the traffic light coalition in the federal government. The SPD heads of government are also calling for more commitment, above all Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD). The capital is the first port of call for many refugees. Giffey is calling for the federal government to assume all of the integration costs. The federal government currently bears 75 percent of the integration costs for daycare and school as well as the costs of accommodation. “We want the federal government to cover all the costs, like in 2015,” said Giffey, who is also deputy chair of the Prime Ministers’ Conference, to the Handelsblatt.
Nobody was able to plan the costs that way, argues Giffey. These are the effects of international conflicts. “Now you can’t just sit back and say: Then the cities are just unlucky. It can’t work like that.”
Serap Güler (CDU), former integration commissioner for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and current member of the Bundestag, agrees. The federal government decides whether people are allowed to come into the country and how long they stay, Güler told the Handelsblatt. “The federal government cannot simply pass the bill on to the municipalities.” The federal and state governments should agree on a fair distribution that keeps the municipalities free.
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According to forecasts by the state government, 100,000 Ukrainians have now arrived in North Rhine-Westphalia alone, around 60 percent of them children. The state provided 1.6 billion euros in the short term. However, the federal government recently demanded that the federal states bear the costs in the first three months, after which the federal government was willing to pay – limited until the end of 2022.
In total, the demands of the federal states are likely to total up to ten billion euros, it is estimated in government circles. The traffic light coalition reacts with reservation to the many requests. From the point of view of the budget holders in the Bundestag, the burden-sharing of the corona pandemic must not be repeated: in the past two years, the federal government had supported the federal states with billions. Result: While the federal government incurred record debts last year, many states managed to balance their budgets again.
System question: asylum seeker benefit or basic security?
Linked to the financing is also the question of what benefits refugees should receive. The countries want the Ukraine refugees to no longer be cared for under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, but to receive basic security benefits.
“The expectation is that the individual service will not be provided via the social welfare offices and the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, but that the care will be processed via the job center in accordance with Book II of the Social Code,” said Giffey. “This means that the refugees can get German courses and better integration into the labor market, and health care is guaranteed.” That must be provided by the federal government.
The federal government will probably go along with the change from the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act to basic security, according to the expectations in the federal states. This is also indicated by the last draft resolution for the Prime Ministers’ Conference. Otherwise, the federal government is very cautious, for example with the costs of accommodation. So far, she has also rejected a lump sum.
There is a difference in the level of performance. According to the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, single people or single parents receive 367 euros per month. The standard rates in the basic security for job seekers, colloquially Hartz IV, according to the Social Security Code are higher. Single people currently receive 449 euros. The states, districts and municipalities were originally responsible for benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. In view of the high number of refugees from 2015, however, the federal government has successively relieved the states, primarily through a higher share of VAT revenue.
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The standard requirement for basic security for jobseekers is financed by the federal government, while the municipalities are responsible for the costs of accommodation and heating. However, the federal government has steadily increased its contribution to these costs since the introduction of basic security, most recently in 2020 to up to 75 percent.
Including the refugees from the Ukraine in SGB II would have the advantage that care could be provided “from a single source”. Currently, the social welfare office is usually responsible for paying benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, and the employment agency for job placement. According to SGB II, on the other hand, both the granting of benefits and the job placement would lie solely with the job center.
Municipalities criticize the federal-state poker game
The district council has criticized the debate on refugee costs between the federal and state governments. “It shouldn’t be the case that there is a gamble on the question of costs,” said the chief executive of the municipal umbrella organization, Hans-Günter Henneke, to the Handelsblatt. One could get this impression because the amounts discussed change almost daily.
Henneke demands that the federal and state governments keep the districts and cities “completely free of refugee costs”. “The municipalities also need a financial perspective and need to know what the refugee crisis is going to cost them,” he said. Henneke reminded that the federal states always have to finance longer-term tasks such as integration and education in relation to the municipalities. “Of course, if the federal government contributes a tidy sum to them, that makes the whole thing easier.”
The fact that there are many children among the refugees also places a particular burden on the federal states and local authorities. The children of Ukrainian asylum seekers are generally entitled to a place in a day-care center in Germany.
On request, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs said: “It is foreseeable that there will not be enough daycare places available for all children at the moment.” Nationwide, the need for places still exceeds the expansion status. “It is therefore particularly important that the measures taken by the federal, state and local authorities to expand daycare centers and secure skilled workers are continued and not let up,” said a spokesman for the ministry. This also plays an important role in the current budget negotiations.
According to the Education and Science Union (GEW), there is already a shortage of 350,000 daycare places and at least 240,000 skilled workers nationwide. On average, a childcare place costs between 600 and 2400 euros per month.
It is still unclear how the refugees who are being accommodated privately and are allowed to move freely in the country for three months will be registered. In Poland, the state pays everyone ten euros for each day that it takes in a refugee privately. It was said that the federal states rejected the proposal because there were too many legal questions, such as whether the municipality would then have to conclude rental contracts with the private helpers. “It can’t be about small things,” criticized CDU politician Güler.
Güler’s party friend, the European politician Dennis Radtke, calls on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to follow Poland’s example. “I would like to know from Chancellor Scholz why we leave the volunteers and the municipalities alone and there is not even a small amount of compensation,” said the deputy federal chairman of the CDU social committees (CDA).
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