As of: January 31, 2024, 4:25 p.m
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A refugee holds a debit card in his hand.
© Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa/Illustration
Refugees should receive part of the state support via a payment card.
Many states and Baden-Württemberg have agreed on standards.
Only two go their own way.
Stuttgart - The federal and state governments have set the course to introduce the payment card for refugees nationwide this year.
While Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are planning their own model, Baden-Württemberg and 13 other federal states have agreed on a procurement process that should be completed by the summer.
Baden-Württemberg's State Justice Minister Marion Gentges and the districts welcomed the agreement on Wednesday and urged haste.
“We want to use the payment card to send a signal – against irregular migration and financial transfers to the countries of origin,” said the CDU minister in Stuttgart.
“We need a workable model for this - quickly and nationwide.”
According to its own information, the Lower Saxony government expects the card to be available in the summer or autumn.
It is intended to provide part of the state benefits for asylum seekers in Germany as credit in the future.
Cash can only be withdrawn with the new card up to a certain monthly amount.
In addition, overdrafts, card-to-card transfers and other transfers at home and abroad are excluded.
Among other things, this is intended to deprive migrants of the opportunity to transfer money from German state support to relatives and friends in their country of origin.
It’s about “reducing false incentives to enter Germany,” Gentges told the German Press Agency.
Families from other countries are currently interested in sending relatives - mostly young men - on the long and dangerous journey to Europe in order to financially support the families in their home country with transfer payments.
In the current system, countries of origin are also less motivated to help with returns because they have an economic interest.
In addition, according to the district council, the payment card prevents corrupt smuggling gangs from being paid with the services that should actually secure their existence.
The Baden-Württemberg Refugee Council described the plans as an “expression of current deterrence policy tendencies in refugee policy”.
It is a misconception that people are less likely to be forced to flee only through payment cards, said the council's co-director, Anja Bartel.
There is also no empirical basis for the thesis that migrants transfer money back home from their social benefits.
“According to studies by the Institute for Labor and Vocational Research, asylum seekers who have arrived rarely pass on money,” said Bartel.
“Remittances to the countries of origin only occur when people work here and earn money.”
The payment card should not exclude the purchase of certain goods or services, warned Bartel.
“Proposals from other federal states, such as banning the purchase of alcohol, tobacco or gambling, not only reproduce prejudices against refugees,” she said.
“Above all, they fail to understand that social benefits are not an educational measure.” People in need and refugees should be able to manage their own business and have the freedom to decide for themselves what they need and when.
Criticism also came from the AfD parliamentary group in the state parliament for another reason.
Their migration policy spokesman Ruben Rupp considers the upcoming system to be half-hearted.
“Not some of the services have to be transferred to the payment cards, but all of the services.”
The state parliament will also deal with the issue again at its next plenary session on Thursday (9:30 a.m.).
Asylum seekers receive legally defined standard benefits and additional special support, for example in the event of illness or pregnancy.
In some municipalities, payment cards have already been introduced for refugees in model tests, with which they receive state benefits as credit, but no more than cash.
The prime ministers of the federal states and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) agreed in November 2023 that asylum seekers in Germany should receive at least part of their benefits as credit on a payment card in the future.
dpa