Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a "historic moment" after his federal government and the premiers of the 16 states agreed on a series of measures to amend Germany's refugee policy.
Benefits for refugees are more generous in Germany than in many other EU countries. Conservative politicians have described this as a "pull factor" attracting refugees to Germany, and have suggested paying out less or no more cash to new arrivals.
Currently, it takes an average of six to 18 months for an asylum application to be processed. Until now, applicants would receive higher benefits after they had been in the country for 18 months. That threshold will now be extended to 36 months. Until then, the reduced rate of €410 (about $440) per month will apply. Benefits such as food in state accommodation are offset.
After the announcement of the changes, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that this could lead to savings of €1 billion. This would "not only relieve the burden on states and municipalities," he wrote, it would also "reduce the appeal of the German welfare state."
To date, the states have had to renegotiate with the federal government every year about who pays what costs for the care of refugees. Now, there is to be a lump sum of €7,500 per refugee per year.
So far in 2023, some 220,000 migrants have made an initial application for asylum. And of the 1 million Ukrainian refugees from the war, more and more are now registering with the authorities to be housed by the state.
Cities and municipalities have long been asking for support with accommodation, ranging from a simplification of legal procedures to an increase in social housing programs.
At the moment, there are around 250,000 people in Germany who have had their asylum applications rejected. Some people simply cannot be tracked down by authorities. But 200,000 of them can't be repatriated as there is either no country willing to take them in, or their country of origin is a war zone or they themselves have serious health issues that cannot be treated in their countries of origin.
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