migration
Refugees: Summit at Scholz or EU initiative?
Gerd Landsberg is the general manager of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
The refugee summit with Interior Minister Faeser was a good start. But representatives of municipalities also want to speak to Chancellor Scholz. And politicians from the FDP and the Union are calling for action at EU level.
In view of the increasing number of refugees in Germany, representatives of local authorities see further need for action by the federal government after the summit with Interior Minister Nancy Faser (SPD).
The general manager of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, called for another top meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) involving the federal states and municipalities later this year. The “tasks ahead of us” can only be mastered in dialogue between the federal, state and local governments, he told the “Rheinische Post”. Meanwhile, politicians from the FDP and Union called on Faeser to campaign for measures at EU level to prevent an immigration crisis.
After a top-level meeting with representatives of the federal states and municipalities on Tuesday, Faeser announced that the federal government would make 56 additional federal properties available for the accommodation of 4,000 refugees. In addition, the controls at the border between Bavaria and Austria are to be extended beyond November. The Serbian government called on her on behalf of the federal government to stop visa-free entry for nationals of many third countries, which had led to an increase in unauthorized entry into the EU. However, Faeser did not make any financial commitments.
“We expect the federal and state governments to fully assume all costs incurred with admission, accommodation and integration,” Landsberg demanded in the “Rheinische Post”. “This commitment must be made in November.” The situation in the municipalities is often already tense and could worsen in winter.
CDU politicians: limit illegal immigration
The President of the German District Association, Reinhard Sager, brought up controls at the border with the Czech Republic. “In addition to the finances, we are also concerned with limiting illegal immigration, which is currently taking place mainly via the Balkan route,” said the CDU politician to the “Welt”. The federal government must show ways “how illegal entries via the Czech Republic, Austria and other countries can be effectively limited”. This also includes “continuing border controls towards Austria or introducing them towards the Czech Republic”.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) called for extensive support. “If we want to maintain the level of accommodation and integration of asylum seekers, as was the case up to the end of last year, we have to calculate around eight billion euros from the federal government for all federal states and municipalities based on today’s price categories,” he said the media group Bavaria. He made a similar statement to the editorial network Germany (RND).
How the federal government wants to contribute financially to the refugee costs is to be clarified in a federal-state meeting at the beginning of November. The minister also made no predictions as to how many refugees will come to Germany this year.
According to the federal government, almost 135,000 people applied for asylum from the beginning of the year to September, almost 35 percent more than in the same period last year. In addition, since the Russian war of aggression began on February 24, around one million refugees from Ukraine who can enter the country without a visa and who do not have to apply for asylum to stay legally have had to be accommodated.
FDP and Union want measures at EU level
Meanwhile, politicians from the FDP and the Union called for action at EU level. The federal government must work for a European refugee summit, said the parliamentary FDP manager Stephan Thomae of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. Germany cannot solve a refugee movement of “this magnitude” at the national level alone. “Rather, a European refugee summit is needed to be prepared for future waves of refugees,” said Thomae. The federal government must ensure a common European asylum system that ensures a fixed distribution system.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt also called for an EU-wide solution. “The federal government must prevent a new refugee crisis,” said the deputy leader of the Union faction. “I expect that Interior Minister Faeser will present a concrete concept for quickly interrupting the transit routes and organize better protection of the external borders with the EU,” he emphasized. After the refugee summit of the federal, state and local governments, it is not just about money for refugee accommodation. “The most effective relief for local authorities is to restrict illegal migration to Germany,” said Dobrindt.