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Trouble at Faeser's refugee summit threatens - City Day warns of "tensions" in accommodation

2023-02-15T12:23:12.014Z


War in Ukraine, earthquake, conflicts and persecution: Many people flee to Germany. The City Day warns of “tensions” ahead of the refugee summit.


War in Ukraine, earthquake, conflicts and persecution: Many people flee to Germany.

The City Day warns of “tensions” ahead of the refugee summit.

Berlin - Cities, municipalities and federal states had recently vehemently called for a new "refugee summit" - Bundestag opposition leader Friedrich Merz even wanted it to be declared a top priority by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).

On Thursday (February 16) the time has come: The summit will take place.

Even if "only" under the leadership of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD).

At the appointment, it could crack violently.

Federal states and municipalities see themselves under enormous pressure, financially and organizationally.

Sports halls could also have to be used again as accommodation, it was said in some places.

But Faeser and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) tend to slow down when it comes to help from Berlin.

A warning from the German Association of Cities on Wednesday (February 15) also provided new fuel.

"Refugee Summit" with Faeser: City Day already warns of "tensions" in accommodation

“Social tensions sometimes grow in the vicinity of refugee facilities.

That's a big concern for us in the cities," said CEO Helmut Dedy of the

Rheinische Post

.

He was indirectly addressing a sensitive issue - the concern about attacks.

The racist riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in the 1990s are remembered, for example.

There neo-Nazis had used displeasure with the organizational situation on site for arson and riots.

There have also been repeated attacks on refugee shelters in recent years.

Dedy predicted that the number of refugees would continue to rise.

People would now come to Germany from the Turkish-Syrian earthquake area.

Tents, container villages and exhibition halls in the cities hardly have any free space.

The federal government must therefore build up its own absorption capacities "as a buffer" and coordinate this with the federal states.

At the same time, according to the city council, there is a lack of staff and daycare and school places for refugees.

Integration cannot succeed without further financial and personnel support from the federal and state governments.

"The financial resources for taking in the refugees must be dynamically adjusted to the actual number of refugees," Dedy demanded.

Escape to Germany: Crises have an impact - Faeser praises "humanitarian tour de force"

Around 29,000 initial applications for asylum were made in Germany in January.

If this were extrapolated for the year as a whole, the number of around 218,000 initial applications registered last year would be significantly exceeded - especially since the trend in entries is tending to continue upwards.

Crises and conflicts in many parts of the world play a role in this.

However, the EU has still not succeeded in reorganizing its migration policy.

Last year, more than a million people came from Ukraine.

They have a special status in view of the bloody Russian war of aggression, but they also need housing, social benefits and other supplies.

In the Rheinische Post,

Faeser spoke

of a “humanitarian tour de force”.

Many lives could be saved, she emphasized.

Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness

Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness

Escape and the billions dispute: Lindner refers to the budget - and stays away from the summit

Above all, municipal umbrella organizations, but also the federal states, have long been pointing to considerable burdens due to the high number of entries.

The federal states and local authorities are pushing for the federal government to cover all of the housing and health costs.

This would be an additional two billion euros per year, but significantly higher figures are also mentioned.

In addition, the federal government should provide more of its own real estate.

For 2022, the federal government had initially promised states and municipalities a flat rate of two billion euros in addition to supplying people from Ukraine.

In October, this was increased by an additional 1.5 billion euros for 2022 and 2023 for refugee-related costs.

For the current year, this results in a total of 2.75 billion euros.

There was also a commitment for payments of a further 1.25 billion euros from 2023. Lindner will not take part in the summit - neither will Scholz.

Warnings of a "show event" have already been raised.

With a view to further demands, Lindner repeatedly referred to the limited financial possibilities of the federal government.

Faeser also argues that the federal government has already made 68,000 places available for refugees in 330 state-owned properties.

Of these, about two-thirds are apparently occupied.

Refugee summit: Scholz's new representative should remedy the situation

In order to reduce the pressure, there are also increasing calls for the deportation of people who are obliged to leave the country to be deported and for so-called irregular migration to be limited.

The government's new special representative, Joachim Stamp, wants to do this.

Conversely, there is also discussion about removing obstacles to work for refugees - including those who only have a toleration - in order to accelerate their integration into the labor market and thus away from state social benefits.

(

AFP/fn

)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-02-15

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