Before a top meeting on immigration policy, the states are pushing for more money from the federal government to care for refugees.
The chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK), Hesse’s head of government Boris Rhein (CDU), told the German Press Agency in Wiesbaden: “This year alone, the costs of asylum and refugee-related expenditure by the states add up to 17.6 billion euros. In addition, there are another 5.7 billion euros in costs that are borne by the municipalities.”
According to Rhein, the federal government is contributing only 3.75 billion euros to these costs this year and wants to reduce the amount to 1.25 billion euros for 2024. From the perspective of the states, this is unacceptable because the federal government is responsible for the cities and municipalities leaves them alone with their problems.” The states are very much in agreement on this – even though there are five different party books in the line-up of prime ministers.
A federal-state summit on Monday will focus on migration. In addition to financing questions, there will also be discussions about whether cash payments for asylum seekers should be replaced by a payment card and benefits in kind.
Preliminary conversation with Merz and Dobrindt
Today Scholz wants to talk to CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt about immigration policy. The meeting has not been officially announced. Both sides have agreed to keep the matter confidential. It can therefore be assumed that no results will be announced. An initial conversation with Merz has already taken place. But the meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday is crucial.
Scholz wants to involve the opposition in efforts to limit irregular migration because he is striving for the broadest possible social consensus on this issue.
Union faction insists on movement
The first parliamentary managing director of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei, tied their participation to conditions. “We have to finally cut the Gordian knot. That’s what people expect from politics,” said the CDU politician to the “Rheinische Post”. In the direction of Chancellor Scholz, he said: “If the traffic light coalition does not have the strength to make its own decisions, the Union is fundamentally ready to tackle these challenges.” However, the prerequisite is “that something really moves”.
Parliamentary group leader Merz recently saw the migration measures planned by the federal government as only cosmetic steps to limit the influx. He presented the Chancellor with a 26-point catalog of demands at the first migration meeting. The Union demands from Scholz, among other things, a “common understanding” that “with a view to the integration infrastructure and social cohesion, Germany can tolerate asylum immigration of up to a maximum of 200,000 people per year.”
Discussion about asylum checks outside Europe
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst also spoke out in favor of examining asylum procedures outside Europe. His Lower Saxony colleague Stephan Weil rejects this. The SPD politician told the Germany editorial network: “I think it is conceivable that asylum procedures will begin in transit countries. The Canadians, for example, do this. But that we are shipping people against their will halfway across the world to a country to which they have no connection whatsoever “I can’t imagine.”
