The federal and state governments are meeting in the Federal Chancellery on Wednesday to talk about the refugee situation and the consequences of it. For weeks, the federal states and municipalities have been demanding more financial support from the federal government for the care of the new arrivals, but this has met with little response.
Vice-government spokesman Büchner emphasized on Friday that the federal government supports states and municipalities in the care of refugees “comprehensively financially and logistically within the framework of its national responsibility” and has been doing this “increasingly” for several years. But it is about “challenges that cannot be solved primarily with money”.
“The most important goal” of the federal government is “to ensure an orderly and structured process for the admission of refugees at all levels of government,” said Büchner. For this, among other things, the migration administration would have to be digitized and a data exchange between authorities would have to be created. Despite the difficult starting position, the federal government is “confident” that it will “come to joint agreements” with the federal states, according to Büchner.
They reaffirmed their financial demands on Friday. “There is a lack of sufficient financial aid, accommodation from the federal government and orderly control of immigration,” Söder told the “Spiegel”. “Significantly more funds must flow for accommodation, care and, above all, integration – permanently,” said North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) the magazine.
The Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) told the “Handelsblatt” that instead of a lump sum for the states to provide for refugees, “the bill should again be per capita”. Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) proposed a blanket recognition of some of the asylum seekers who arrived after 2014.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) admitted in the “Handelsblatt” that the current refugee situation demands “a lot” from the communities. According to her, a relief for the municipalities should succeed above all by the fact that the migration is “much more” controlled and ordered. “We will ensure reliable identification, registration and screening of people at the EU’s external borders,” continued Faeser.
To protect the EU’s external borders against illegal migration, FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Saturday edition) that Europe had to invest in “everything that goes with it, including fences”. Everything must be done to improve border protection. Federal Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner had previously spoken out in favor of protecting the EU’s external borders with fences, among other things, if necessary.
