SPD state leaders also increase pressure on Scholz
Ahead of a summit meeting with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, several SPD-led states are increasing the pressure and demanding significantly more money for the care of refugees.
The states are already doing what they can, but the federal government must also pay its fair share, said Stephan Weil, Minister President of Lower Saxony, on ntv's "Frühstart". "Instead, it is currently planning to cut its benefits - that is not possible." When the federal government says that it no longer has any financial leeway, this is a difficult statement, Weil said, because it would mean that everything else in the federal budget takes priority over supporting the municipalities in the current situation.
Bremen's mayor Andreas Bovenschulte told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland that the federal states and municipalities must be financially equipped "so that they are not overburdened by the accommodation, care and integration of refugees". The federal government must therefore "noticeably increase its share of the costs in the long term, the federal states are in complete agreement on this".
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Minister President Manuela Schwesig called for the federal government to contribute half of the costs. "We are calling for the introduction of a payment card, want to speed up procedures for refugees with poor prospects of staying and enable refugees with good prospects to find work more quickly," she told the RND newspapers. "We expect the federal government to contribute half of the costs permanently and reliably."
Pressure from CDU-led federal states too
Similar demands are coming from the CDU/CSU-led federal states. The Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst, called for a reduction in benefits for asylum seekers in Germany. There needs to be a harmonization of payments in Europe, "and in terms of German benefits, this means that they would go down", said Wüst in "Frühstart". There are many reasons why refugees make the journey from their country of arrival in Europe to Germany. "One reason is certainly the benefits, which are higher here than elsewhere."
Bavaria's Minister President Markus Söder from the CSU is pushing for a "fundamental change in migration policy". "The aim must be to ensure that those who are not entitled to protection can be effectively turned back at the German border," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
"A clever further development of constitutional law should also be considered," Söder told the newspaper. "National asylum procedures should - as far as possible - be carried out in third countries in future," the CSU politician continued. "It is also important to prevent applicants who have already been rejected from repeatedly submitting new applications."
"Benefits in kind and payment card"
"In particular, incentives to move to Germany and social pull factors must be reduced by lowering national social benefits for refugees to the European level," Söder demanded. "To this end, cash benefits must be consistently replaced by benefits in kind and a payment card."
The Minister Presidents of the federal states will discuss the future course of migration policy with Federal Chancellor Scholz during the course of the day. They will discuss both the goal of reducing the number of asylum seekers entering Germany and the distribution of funding between the federal and state governments. The federal states and local authorities are unanimously calling for more financial support from the federal government.
- Minister President Manuela Schwesig of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania joins the call for the federal government to cover half of the costs for refugees, suggesting the introduction of a payment card and faster processing for refugees with poor prospects.
- Similarly, Hendrik Wüst, the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from the CDU/CSU, also calls for a reduction in benefits for asylum seekers, citing the higher benefits as a pull factor for refugees to come to Germany.
- Olaf Scholz, the Federal Chancellor, will face pressure from both SPD-led and CDU/CSU-led states during a summit meeting, with several states demanding significantly more financial support for the care of refugees.
- Stephan Weil, the Minister President of Lower Saxony, has criticized the federal government's plans to cut benefits, stating that it would unfairly burden municipalities and negatively impact the support for refugees in their care.
Source: www.ntv.de
