Before the federal, state and local refugee summit, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) dampened expectations of an increase in federal financial aid. “The refugee summit tomorrow will show again: the federal, state and local governments are acting in close coordination, side by side,” Faeser told the editorial network Germany (RND).
She emphasized that the federal government had already supported the federal states and municipalities with billions of euros in the care for refugees. “Together we are shouldering the great humanitarian effort to care for 1,062,000 refugees from Ukraine in Germany,” Faeser told the RND newspapers. Representatives of the federal, state and local governments will meet in Berlin on Thursday at the invitation of Faeser for a refugee summit.
The main issue here is the distribution of the financial and organizational burdens between the levels of government. In view of current demands from the federal states and municipal umbrella organizations for more financial support from the federal government, Faeser referred to agreements that had already been made. “In 2022 alone, the federal government supported the states and municipalities financially with 3.5 billion euros,” she told the RND. “For this year we have agreed another 2.75 billion euros.”
The Federal Minister of the Interior expressed her confidence that the federal, state and local governments would “find pragmatic solutions” to “solve the tense accommodation situation in many places”. To this end, she also brought the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks to the table for the refugee summit.
Bavaria’s Minister of the Interior, Joachim Herrmann (CSU), recently declared federal financial aid of eight billion euros to be appropriate. That would be 1.75 billion euros more than the federal government has promised so far. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), on the other hand, said: “The possibilities of the federal government are limited.” States and municipalities have already received additional funds.
Before the refugee summit, Schleswig-Holstein’s integration minister, Aminata Touré (Greens), called for more integration courses from the federal government in addition to more money for accommodating refugees. “I expect a summit of real solutions,” she told RND. “States and municipalities now need firm financing commitments that meet the current challenges.”
The refugee summit must deliver “a clear signal for more integration”, demanded Touré. The federal government must “clearly commit to expanding its integration courses”. In Schleswig-Holstein alone there is currently a shortage of almost 10,000 places, emphasized the minister. It’s not about “learning Heinrich-Heine-Deutsch”, but the basics of the German language. “Therefore, the federal government should lower the minimum requirements for teachers in integration courses,” demanded Touré.
