fact finder
Status: 06.10.2022 09:12 a.m
Ukrainians would commute back and forth between Ukraine and Germany to collect social benefits – claimed CDU leader Merz. research by monitor show: The rumor was spread by pro-Russian and right-wing extremist channels.
Since an interview with “Bild-TV” on September 26, the word was suddenly on everyone’s lips: “social tourism”. CDU leader Friedrich Merz used it with a view to refugees from Ukraine: “We are now experiencing social tourism from these refugees to Germany, back to Ukraine, to Germany, back to Ukraine.” A “larger number” are now taking advantage of this system. Merz stated: “We have a problem there, it’s getting bigger.”
The waves were high: Interior Minister Nancy Faeser found the statement “shabby”, Green parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann accused Merz of wanting to make a name for himself with methods used by right-wing populists. Merz apologized for his choice of words. He didn’t want to offend anyone, but he insisted that there were increasing problems with an increasing number of refugees and asylum seekers, including those from Ukraine.
The Russian media picked up the ball: They spread the message about Merz’s accusation and his apology: “In Germany, people are outraged about the Ukrainian refugees,” reported the state news agency RIA Novosti. And oligarch Konstantin Malofeev’s TSARGRAD-TV station, which is close to the Kremlin, ran the headline: “Friedrich Merz – first the German politician scolded, then he was forced to regret it.”
Merz in the service of Russian propaganda?
“In the end, the Russian media presented Friedrich Merz as a witness for two disinformation narratives by the Kremlin,” says Berlin communications and political advisor Johannes Hillje. “Firstly, for the allegation that Ukrainian refugees are fraudsters, and secondly, that freedom of expression is no longer possible in Germany.” Friedrich Merz is – intentionally or not – ultimately “in the service of Russian propaganda”. It is unclear where Merz got his information about the alleged “social tourism” of Ukrainian refugees. on monitor– He did not want to comment on the request.
Telegram voice message as a trigger
But where did the claims come from and who spread them? It all started with a voice message on September 10th in the Messenger service Telegram. Under the headline “Organized Fraud”, an anonymous user claims that Ukrainian refugees regularly travel to their homeland with the bus company Flixbus: “The Flixbuses are fully booked more than two weeks in advance because the Ukrainians use the Flixbus to commute to Germany, here Go to the office, report, get Hartz IV and then take the Flixbus back.”
The message is called up thousands of times – and comments: “Looting of the social system with an announcement,” writes a user. Another: “The service is not completely free – the German taxpayer pays for that too.”
Josef Holnburger, Managing Director at the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS), has examined how what began as a simple voice message spread further and further: “It didn’t reach such large channels for a few days, but then it became shared over time by higher-reach, mainly pro-Russian channels on Telegram.”
Channels such as “News from Russia” – operated by the influencer Alina Lipp, who is loyal to Putin. Her channel, on which she spreads pro-Russian propaganda, has around 180,000 followers. Lipp explains the supposed welfare fraud as a mass phenomenon: “Ukrainians are supposed to drive to Germany by Flixbus in droves, collect social benefits and drive back to Ukraine,” she writes. A leader of the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement” also spread the news and spoke of “social tourism”, a term that differs only slightly from Merz’ later choice of words.
Putin’s agents?
Holnburger describes such channels as “vicarious agents”. They reached up to 200,000 people with a message on Telegram: “These are people who often invent and spread disinformation for the Kremlin.” They are not necessarily on the Kremlin’s payroll, “but also do it for their own reasons, because, for example, they think the war of aggression against Ukraine is the right thing to do.”
Is there any evidence at all for the claim of an alleged mass “social tourism”? On the network, the Flix buses in the direction of Kyiv, which are fully booked for days, sometimes weeks, are enough as evidence. But is that enough?
Flixbus responds to monitor request: The demand for trips to the Ukraine is still very high, but: “We have no evidence of Mr. Merz’s allegation of ‘social tourism’.” Counts at the border crossings also show that after the Russian army withdrew from parts of the previously occupied areas, return travel to Ukraine increased significantly.
The fact is: since June 1st, refugees from the Ukraine have been entitled to basic social security benefits and thus receive benefits like Hartz IV recipients. The job centers at the Federal Employment Agency are responsible for processing applications.
No indication of abuse of social benefits
But even the job centers cannot find any evidence of an alleged “social tourism”. The job centers “regularly took numerous measures to uncover potential abuse of benefits,” writes the federal agency on request: Among other things, internal data comparisons and those with other authorities, inspection visits to the registration address by field staff. Result: “The Federal Employment Agency currently has no indications of ‘social tourism’ to Germany.”
A survey of the 16 German state governments also came up empty in this regard. 13 state governments are open monitor-Inquiry answered. The answers are the same. The spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Interior of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, for example, writes that there are “no reliable findings” on the allegedly widespread social fraud through commuting between Germany and the Ukraine.
As a result, there is no reliable evidence for Merz’s claim, which he still essentially sticks to – and which is being disseminated in a targeted manner by the extreme right-wing media close to the Kremlin.