FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr has called for a stop to cash payments to refugees. “The federal states could say from today: We will stop paying cash to refugees, we will only make payments in kind or payment cards,” said Dürr in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. Then, in his words, a pull factor, i.e. an incentive for refugees to come to Germany, would be eliminated.
He hopes that by the next meeting of the federal and state governments at the beginning of November, the prime ministers will clearly speak out in favor of no longer making cash payments. “This is not (Finance Minister) Christian Lindner’s money, but rather the people in Germany earned it,” said the FDP MP.
The federal government makes its financial contribution to caring for refugees, but the municipalities cannot be helped with money alone. “Simply throwing more money at a huge problem will not work; the number of irregular migrants must go down,” demanded Dürr. “We can’t tell the taxpayer that we have a big problem and we’re going to pour more money into it.”
FDP General Secretary: Coping with migration with the Union
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai spoke out in favor of cooperation with the Union on migration policy, but at the same time questioned its willingness to do so. “Cross-party solutions would be good for such a big challenge,” he told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”. But he is suspicious as to whether the CDU and CSU are actually interested in it. “When I see that the Union makes big speeches but doesn’t take any of the measures that can already be implemented in the federal states in which it governs, I have doubts about its credibility.”
He called on his coalition partner the Greens to face reality on the issue. It was “incredibly difficult” to convince them to classify Moldova and Georgia as safe countries of origin. “We are having a factual debate about migration in which everyone has to be honest. Denial of reality is dangerous, it strengthens the political fringes,” he said.
Community association demands work permits from the start
The German Association of Cities and Municipalities calls for asylum seekers to be given a work permit relatively soon after their arrival if they have a chance of being recognized. “The DStGB advocates that refugees with the prospect of staying should be allowed to work from the start,” said managing director Gerd Landsberg to the newspapers of the Funke media group. Work can make a significant contribution to integration, and the demand on the labor market is there.
However, he is skeptical about the discussion about mandatory community service for asylum seekers. The expectations are “sometimes too high,” said Landsberg. “Capacities are limited here and the bureaucratic effort is high.” There are also insufficient sanction options for those who do not appear. “There is no need for symbolic politics, but rather pragmatic approaches to dealing with the refugees who are here and limiting the influx in the future.”
The SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil had shown himself willing to talk about the Union’s initiative to require asylum seekers to do community service during their procedure. Austria is already planning this. The CSU chairman Markus Söder has announced a corresponding program.
In view of the high number of asylum seekers and refugees from Ukraine, a debate has broken out in the Federal Republic about how to deal with migrants. In many places, municipalities are overloaded, and at the same time the right-wing populist and, in some cases, right-wing extremist AfD is gaining strength.
