At a top-level meeting in Berlin this Wednesday, the federal and state governments are looking for solutions to the dispute over the distribution of the costs of caring for refugees.
Because the cities and communities in particular are groaning under the financial burden, the states are demanding a higher share from the federal government. However, the latter does not want to inject more money than planned because, from his point of view, he is already contributing disproportionately to the costs.
However, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst, sees movement at the Federal Government in the controversial issue of refugee financing immediately before the refugee summit in the Chancellery. The federal government was “hard into” the preliminary talks for the summit, said the CDU politician on Wednesday morning on ARD. But that now seems to be “a bit too objective” and that’s a good thing.
The problem is that the federal government wants to withdraw significantly from the aid for those people who come from countries other than Ukraine. That’s not okay.
The chancellor must make the issue a top priority, assume responsibility and show leadership.
The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wust
There are already more than 100,000 asylum applications from people from Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey and Iran this year. In the end, most of the tasks involved would have to be dealt with in the municipalities. “That’s why we need a permanent, reliable solution that breathes. If more people come, more funds must come with them, ”said Wüst.
“The chancellor must make the issue a top priority, take responsibility and show leadership,” Wüst told the Tagesspiegel on Tuesday. “Anyone who decides how to control immigration must also take financial responsibility for their decisions and bear the consequences.”
Söder has a “bad feeling”
The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil (SPD), sees little chance of a breakthrough at the refugee summit. “It’s a really fundamental conflict and, to be honest, I don’t have very high hopes that we’ll agree on this fundamental issue today,” Weil said on Wednesday morning on rbb24 Inforadio. However, there is the possibility of an “interim solution” for this year, which in Weil’s opinion would already be a success.
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) told the radio station Bayern 2 that he was going to the meeting with a “very bad feeling”. Because so far, the federal government has not correctly perceived the situation in the federal states.
The burdens are extremely high in the municipalities and in the federal states.
Saarland Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger
Saarland’s Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger (SPD) is also dampening expectations before the federal-state meeting. There will be no “turning point” in migration policy, as some FDP politicians had called for, she said on Deutschlandfunk on Wednesday morning. “It’s about implementing what you may have already agreed with one another more consistently and in a better technical way.”
Lindner is to act as “enabling minister”.
The SPD politician demanded more money from the federal government for the accommodation of refugees. Rehlinger expects Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) to act as “enabling minister”, she said. “The burdens are extremely high in the municipalities, in the federal states. Of course, the federal government has already given a lot of money, but at the end of the day it’s just not enough at the moment.”
The Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) appealed to the commonality of the federal and state governments. “We have to solve the problems together and everyone has to ask themselves where to pick up and drop off,” she told the “Rheinische Post” on Wednesday.
“We all know what happens when refugee housing issues escalate. Nobody can have an interest in that,” says Dreyer. The federal states are entering into talks with Scholz with a basis for consultation that was unanimously approved.
SPD wants to “achieve a result together”
The SPD faction deputy Dirk Wiese was willing to compromise with a view to the refugee summit. “We want to achieve a result together with the federal level, with the 16 federal states, especially for the municipalities, in order to get relief,” he said on Wednesday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. At the federal-state meeting, everything will be done for a “viable compromise”.
The SPD politician also pointed out that money alone does not help everywhere. “We also have to see how we can speed up procedures, how we can make progress with returns.” Germany also needs skilled workers. “That’s why we want to open more regular migration routes to Germany,” added Wiese.
Green signal more support – Lindner not
The Greens had also campaigned for greater support for the municipalities before the federal-state meeting. “It will take money to cut the knot,” said party leader Omid Nouripour of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” on Wednesday.
“People don’t want the federal and state governments to point fingers at each other, they want the problems to be solved,” Nouripour warned.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has so far contradicted demands for more money from the federal government. In the ZDF “heute journal” the FDP leader referred to the 15.6 billion euros in federal support for states and municipalities this year. However, the minister shares the demands for a change in immigration policy.
For years, Germany has not had the control over migration that it needs. “For too long we have made it difficult for people to come to Germany, whom we need as clever minds and hard-working hands. And for too long we have been making it easy for people to stay who are actually obliged to leave the country because they entered Germany irregularly. And that has to change.” He appealed to the federal states to focus more on benefits in kind instead of money for asylum seekers.
In the first four months of this year, 101,981 initial asylum applications were received by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) – an increase of 78 percent compared to the previous year. Many municipalities see themselves at the breaking point. Cities and municipalities do not sit directly at the table, the federal states see themselves as representing their interests.
Municipalities are demanding a limit on immigration
The municipal associations are demanding more money from the federal government from the summit on the one hand, but also steps to limit immigration on the other. “We have to come to a reduction in the number of refugees,” said the general manager of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg. the news portal “t-online”. The federal government must work towards this with all means.
The federal government should also permanently and completely assume the costs of accommodation for refugees and reintroduce flat rates for asylum seekers, integration costs and unaccompanied minors as in 2015/2016. Landsberg warned at the same time: “The responsibility and financing bingo between the federal and state governments must come to an end.”
The President of the German Association of Cities, Markus Lewe, also demanded that the federal government should again fully cover the costs of accommodation for refugees. In addition, asylum seekers who are required to leave the country and have no prospect of staying in the country would have to be “consistently returned,” Lewe told the editorial network Germany.
The general manager of the German district association, Hans-Günter Henneke, warned on “t-online”: “First and foremost, it’s about limiting immigration, but secondarily it’s also about sufficient financial resources for the municipalities.”
The Paritätische Gesamtverband sharply criticized the cost dispute between the federal government on the one hand and the states and municipalities on the other. “Haggling on the backs of people who have fled war and persecution is an undignified spectacle in a rich country,” said the association’s general manager, Ulrich Schneider, the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” on Wednesday . Schneider described a good financial basis for refugee work as “an imperative of humanity”. (dpa/Reuters)
