Opinion
Payment card
Hooray! The migration crisis is over. That is, almost
Asylum seekers should be able to cover personal expenses with a payment card (symbolic image)
© Bihlmayerfotografie/Photomontage / Imago Images
Politicians are discussing payment cards and work obligations for asylum seekers. You can do it – but not like that.
There is nothing wrong with that if Asylum seekers receive part of their benefits via a payment card. Or when they tend to the garden at their accommodation. Or shovel snow.
There can even be big advantages: Before the Green mayor of Hanover introduced a payment card in December, asylum seekers had to queue at the authorities. They took the so-called commitment certificate that they received there to the savings bank, where they then exchanged the certificate for money. This means: The payment card brings relief and simplification for everyone. Six clerks can now take care of other tasks in Hanover.
However, the discussions that are currently taking place are far from that. Because the tenor is: A payment card is needed to prevent asylum seekers from accessing money in Germany and transferring it home – or even using it to pay off debts to smugglers. Even the Ministry of Economics, led by the Green Party’s Robert Habeck, said after an agreement between the ministries on Thursday: “The payment card makes sense to prevent money from being transferred abroad.”
There is a similar argument when it comes to the so-called “compulsory work”: Asylum seekers should finally give something back to Germany through an obligation to work. According to the President of the German District Council from the CDU, financial support from the state should not be unconditional.
The debate about payment cards has little to do with reality
The debate is characterized by evil insinuations and propaganda, but has little to do with reality. There is no evidence that asylum seekers are moving large parts of the 182 euros for “personal needs” they receive in the first few months after arrival out of the country. If there is a person who really wants to do this, they will probably find a way with a payment card: Maybe they buy something in the store, exchange it and have the exchange paid out in cash. But to express general suspicion and even to justify politics with it is wrong.
The debate about so-called work obligations is also strangely distorted. It is not the case that the majority of asylum seekers do not want to work. In fact, they are often not allowed to – because of legal regulations. So there is no need for an obligation, but rather the opportunity. Here are the real problems that politicians must finally solve more effectively: Speed up asylum procedures so that those who are allowed to stay can work faster.
But out of fear of the AfD, in the year in which there are three state elections in East Germany, those involved are opting for the supposedly easier route: debates about pseudo-problems. The main thing is to suggest: We are taking tough action now. Maybe this might work for some people in the short term. In the long term, however, we as a society can only lose.