Migration - Frankfurt Mayor Josef calls for more money for refugee aid
The Lord Mayor of Frankfurt, Mike Josef (SPD), believes that local authorities are still far too poorly funded when it comes to accommodating and integrating refugees. The federal and state governments must provide more funds so that they are sufficient, Josef told the German Press Agency. This is a prerequisite for social peace in the country.
"I came to Germany as the child of refugees. What helped us was that both sides were able to integrate. That means there were German courses for my mother. We were in refugee accommodation and then got an apartment, I went to kindergarten. We were given the opportunity and the municipality was able to offer it to us," said Josef, whose family comes from Syria.
Today, there is a lack of money for social housing, schools and daycare centers, so there is already not enough for the people already living in Frankfurt. "If you don't take people seriously on a small scale, i.e. if schools are not renovated for years, if facilities have to close and parents can't find a place in a daycare center, then we also lose acceptance for things that we do "on top" - for example, reasonable accommodation for refugees," said Josef. The two must be considered together. "If we don't manage one, we will also lose acceptance in the other areas."
The federal government is transferring more and more tasks to the cities without providing the necessary funding. Even a rich city like Frankfurt has limited financial resources, partly due to the current population growth. The infrastructure must grow with it. "It is essentially a question of trust in our democracy and the parties as to whether we can manage this," said Josef. "Society will go along with it, people will go along with it if we do our homework."
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Source: www.stern.de
