For weeks now, there has been a discussion in Germany about social benefits for Ukrainian refugees. More than 1 million refugees from Ukraine live in the Federal Republic.
In the first months of the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Poland was the country that received the largest number of Ukrainian asylum seekers. In certain periods, it sheltered over 1.660 thousand Ukrainians. Now there are fewer than 960,000 people left there.
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There are no uniform standards in the EU for social benefits
Today, Germany is the leader in the entire European Union in the number of accepted Ukrainian refugees. According to official statistics, 1 million and 116 thousand Ukrainians live in the Federal Republic, although the exact number is not fully known, because Ukrainians have the right to free movement throughout the Schengen area.
Unlike refugees from all other countries, citizens of Ukraine are not required to apply for asylum. A special decision adopted by the European Union and valid for all its countries states that Ukrainians automatically receive it. However, EU countries have not adopted uniform standards for the amount of social assistance that refugees from the country attacked by Russia should receive.
What is the amount of social supplements and benefits in Germany?
In Germany this support is very generous. By a decision of the German government from the summer of 2022, Ukrainian refugees were equated with all other residents of Germany, entitled to Bürgergeld or “citizen money”. The amount of this assistance is 502 euros for an adult living in an independent household. In addition to this, additional benefits for rent and utilities are received. It is also possible to receive a subsidy for a training course.
Just for comparison – an adult single asylum seeker is entitled to 410 euros plus help for “suitable” housing, which could also be a bed in a dormitory. In addition, asylum seekers from other countries can claim only the most necessary health services. While recipients of Bürgergeld, such as Ukrainian citizens, are full clients of the health insurance fund – just like all other regularly insured Germans. But the state pays the contributions for this insurance for them. From next year, the amount of Bürgergeld will increase to 563 euros. Other benefits are also increasing – by about 12 percent. According to the German authorities, about 700,000 Ukrainians receive Bürgergeld, including 480,000 people of working age.
High risk of abuse of social benefits
Reinhard Sager, head of the German Union of Municipal Authorities, commented that the high level of social benefits caused a double negative effect. First of all, it “lowers the motivation of Ukrainian refugees to look for work”. And secondly, Bürgergeld like a magnet attracts Ukrainian refugees from other EU countries, where social benefits are significantly lower than those of Germany. On top of that, it turned out that the German authorities were not aware whether the Ukrainian refugees receiving aid in Germany did not have refugee registration and status in other EU countries as well. This became clear in response to a question from Thorsten Frei from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The absence of such checks, commented Fry, “opens the door wide for possible abuses”.
Higher requirements
Frei pointed out that Germany accepts the most Ukrainian refugees, but despite this, there are very few people working among them. “In Poland and the Netherlands, the share of working Ukrainians is 66% and 70%, respectively, while in Germany it is only 17%,” said Fry. Germany is not preparing to cancel social benefits for Ukrainian refugees, but it is already placing higher demands on them – especially in the search for work. Thus, they will now be obliged – just like unemployed German citizens – to report every 6 weeks to the labor offices what efforts they have made to find a job. Otherwise, some social benefits will be cut.
Author: Nikita Zholkver
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2023-11-23 13:43:00
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