Because local authorities refuse to take in refugees, the state government wants to force them to build shelters if necessary.
Meanwhile, statements by the Federal Minister of the Interior about refugee costs are causing dissatisfaction.
Stuttgart - In Baden-Württemberg there is increasing resistance to the construction of refugee accommodation in the areas of the cities and municipalities.
But the country's hands are tied.
It must absorb and distribute people.
Therefore, the green-black coalition wants to increase the pressure on the municipalities if necessary.
Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) and the Ministry of Justice announced that as a last resort, facilities should also be able to be set up against the will of cities and communities.
“We have to accommodate the refugees.
That is a mandatory task,” Kretschmann recently emphasized.
The influx will not stop, “I am personally convinced of that”.
And ultimately, every facility must be located in a community area.
"We no longer have any unincorporated areas in Baden-Württemberg."
But many people are now very skeptical when a stopover for refugees is to be built in their city of all places.
Most recently, the Pforzheim municipal council had rejected an initial reception facility (EA) for refugees in the city after months of debate, and there had already been civil protests in Tamm near Ludwigsburg.
The long tug-of-war between the state and the city of Ellwangen over the facility there only came to an end when both parties agreed on a deadline until the end of 2025.
Then the country needs a different solution.
Time is running out.
According to Kretschmann, considerations are "concretely pursued" as to how the state can assert itself against a municipality in case of doubt.
The country is experiencing that the construction of shelters is not popular and is met with resistance.
"Of course we try to reach agreement with the local authorities," said Kretschmann last Tuesday.
So far, no EA has been put into operation in any municipality against the will of the majority of the municipal council.
The Ministry of Justice also emphasized its willingness to find mutually acceptable solutions with potential local authorities.
This has always been successful, said a spokesman for Justice Minister Marion Gentges (CDU) of the German Press Agency.
However, he added: "In addition - also depending on the actual and planning framework conditions of a location - regulations and legal instruments are available to enable installation and operation in any case."
In addition to so-called legal planning, with which locations are laboriously determined by law, one possible instrument would also be federal building law.
It regulates special regulations for refugee accommodation.
The City Day warns against deviating from the current path.
A spokeswoman for the "Schwäbische Zeitung" (Thursday) said that the paragraph should not be used exuberantly, since municipal planning sovereignty is constitutionally secured and would be undermined.
"This would not correspond to the tried and tested solidarity of the federal government and local authorities in the accommodation of refugees, we should stick to this solidarity," she told the newspaper.
The political opposition also shows little understanding: SPD interior expert Sascha Binder accused the government of not having provided any reserve options since 2016.
"This omission is now creating immense and actually completely unnecessary pressure," he said.
She also fueled distrust among the municipalities because she had not kept promises.
The FDP parliamentary group leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke accused Kretschmann of acting "imprudently and stubbornly", he wanted to proceed with the mallet.
"In this way, he encourages rejection on the spot instead of responsibly seeking dialogue."
Statements on refugee costs by Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also caused a lack of understanding in the south-west.
The SPD politician had explained that she could not understand the demands of the municipalities for more money from the federal government for the accommodation of refugees and migrants at the present time.
"I find it strange when it is already being said - at the beginning of April this year - that the money for this year is not enough," she told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Thursday).
She also argued that there should be "no maximum limits for humanity".
Gentges accused her of missing the real situation.
It is about objective capacity and performance limits.
Space for accommodation is often scarce.
"If the Federal Minister of the Interior thinks that the municipalities have no problems and can't even know what else to expect, then I really don't feel that I'm being taken seriously and I'm almost being made fun of," said Tübingen's Mayor Boris Palmer on Thursday on the show "RTL Direct".
Palmer said the municipalities were overwhelmed with the situation.
According to the Ministry of Justice, 146,000 people from Ukraine, 28,000 asylum seekers and 3,400 people were taken in as part of humanitarian aid last year.
In the first few months of 2023, as of Thursday, another 7,000 people were looking for asylum, 13,000 were fleeing the war in Ukraine and 600 others, including local workers from Afghanistan.
There are currently more than ten reception locations in the state, including the arrival center in Heidelberg, which can accommodate up to 2,000 people, and four state reception centers in Ellwangen, Sigmaringen, Freiburg and Karlsruhe.
There, the refugees are registered and health checked before they are distributed to the municipalities in follow-up accommodation and integrated into the cities and communities.
There are also five initial reception centers in Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Schwetzingen, Giengen, Tübingen and Mannheim.
The EA in Mannheim is currently out of order due to renovation.
Refugees who have already been registered are temporarily housed here before they are assigned to municipalities.
According to the information, the country has a total of around 13,200 places for refugees.
dpa
