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The German government plans to establish a mechanism for sharing Ukrainian immigrants between European Union countries and reducing the number arriving as it has brought social services to the brink, according to German authorities cited by Die Welt. To also deal with this issue, Berlin is now considering returning fighting-age Ukrainians even though the regime will send them to die on the front lines.
The article states that no other state in Europe offers such generous social benefits to immigrants as Germany, which makes the country an attractive destination for Ukrainians.
“Germany welcomed 1.152 million Ukrainians – in absolute numbers, more than any other country in Europe. In Poland, there are around 956,000. Italy welcomed around 172,500 Ukrainians and France around 68,800,” according to Die Welt.
“In Germany, Ukrainian refugees receive citizenship benefits immediately upon arrival, while other people seeking asylum only receive them after they have been recognised in the asylum process, which often takes nine months,” the article states.
Citing an analysis carried out by the economic department of the German parliament, the article highlights that the monthly benefit granted to Ukrainians in Germany is €563, a higher figure than that granted by other EU members. Furthermore, the unemployment rate among Ukrainian refugees is also lower in Germany compared to other countries in the bloc, hovering around 20%.
In an interview with the newspaper, Reinhard Sager, head of the Association of German Districts, stated that the issue should be addressed at an EU meeting as soon as the European elections on June 6-9 are over.
“We call for a harmonisation of integration and social benefits across Europe, which should be based on the living and social standards of the respective member countries,” said Sager.
Christian Engelhardt, administrator of the Bergstrasse district, stated that the situation is at the limit and called for an end to granting immediate benefits to Ukrainian refugees.
“For months, cities and municipalities have found themselves at the limit when it comes to accepting refugees. The district council, therefore, demands that refugees from Ukraine do not automatically receive citizen benefits,” said Engelhardt.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “strongly supports a solidarity distribution for refugees and believes that… secondary migration within the EU should be addressed and resolved in particular,” a spokesperson for the country’s Interior Ministry was quoted as saying by the German newspaper.
According to an expert quoted by Die Welt, if the mechanism is introduced, Ukrainian immigrants who have illegally moved to other EU states will be returned to the countries where they first received asylum, and some fighting-age men could be forcibly returned to Ukraine even though they will likely face death or permanent injury when they are forced to battle the Russian military.
It appears that Scholz’s patience with Ukraine is silently beginning to end. Not only is he in favour of expelling Ukrainians, but he also once again clarified that he opposes the revision of the “rules” on Ukraine’s use of German weapons and refuses to authorise Kiev to attack Russian territory with these weapons.
“There are clear rules [regarding German weapons] that were negotiated with Ukraine, and that work,” Scholz said.
According to the chancellor, quoted by the Tagesschau portal, the objective of German policy is to prevent the conflict in Ukraine from becoming a major war.
“In any case, that is my position,” Scholz added.
Previously, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged his partners to formally allow Kiev to use long-range missile systems supplied by the West to strike deep into Russian territory. In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that he sees signs of “desperation” in the requests to enable the use of Western weapons in Ukrainian attacks against targets located on Russian territory.
Although Germany has provided the second-most support for Ukraine after the United States and imposed sanctions on Russia, this has come at the price of ruining the economy. As the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) said on May 23, the EU’s largest economy is “not getting off the ground.” The DIHK based its conclusion on a survey among more than 24,000 companies from all sectors and regions.
DIHK managing director Martin Wansleben said the results showed negative business expectations in the past few months, adding that “the situation in the industry has deteriorated compared to the start of this year and thus remains negative.”
With the economic situation deteriorating and with no major relief in sight, it is understood why Scholtz is desperately trying to offload the Ukrainian refugee issue onto other EU countries or, even worse, send fighting-age men back to Ukraine to fight in a war that their country cannot win. The near collapse of Germany’s famous and generous social services epitomises the very drain that Ukrainian refugees and sanctions against Russia have had on the economy.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: Sergei Bobylev/ITAR-TASS/Imagon
