Commenting on yesterday's decision by the Federal Chancellor and the heads of government of the federal states on November 6, 2023 entitled "Refugee Policy - Humanity and Order", the President of the Association of Cities and Towns of Lower Saxony and Mayor of the City of Salzgitter, Frank Klingebiel, said
"The majority of municipalities have already reached their limit. Additional living space for refugee accommodation is no longer available. Some municipalities are already starting to repurpose sports halls, youth recreation centers and town halls. The daycare and school system is on the verge of collapse. There is a lack of language courses and finding work for refugees is too complicated. Local integration is not feasible. In many cases, there is a growing feeling that urban societies are overwhelmed.
That is why we have clearly formulated the goal for this Chancellor's Summit:
The number of people to be admitted to Germany must be significantly and sustainably reduced. Irregular immigration must be stopped immediately. People with the right to stay must be distributed across the EU in a spirit of solidarity. Local authorities must receive adequate and permanent funding for this state task.
After two missed opportunities on 16.02.2023 and 13.06.2023, the Chancellor's Summit with the Minister Presidents yesterday and today was therefore about much more than just money and migration measures. It was about the credibility of the democratic parties, people's trust in the ability of our democratic state to act, cohesion in our urban societies and ultimately also about safeguarding our democracy.
We welcome the fact that the federal and state governments have today agreed on a package of measures that can be expected to reduce irregular migration to Germany and ensure solidarity in the distribution of refugees with the right to stay within the EU.
Stronger protection of Europe's external borders, implementation and acceleration of asylum procedures at the EU's external borders, migration agreements with the countries of origin, stronger controls of Germany's internal borders with neighboring countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic. Switzerland, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic, accelerated asylum procedures in Germany, improved repatriation, a nationwide payment card for asylum seekers, a postponement of the citizen's allowance from 18 months to 36 months as well as faster employment and better integration: these are all good and correct measures that we Kommen have been demanding for a long time and which must now be implemented without delay.
The measures on paper will bring relief if the federal and state governments actually "put them on the road". Urgent action is needed here! The local authorities and citizens rightly expect this! And to illustrate this with the example of the payment card: The payment card must be introduced as early as January 1, 2024 and not as late as January 1, 2025 or even January 1, 2026, because it has again taken a long time to implement it with changes to the law, with tenders, with data protection, etc.
People and local authorities expect the federal and state governments to get to grips with this now. After "humanity and order", "action and delivery" must now follow in the very short term. However, the decisive factor will be whether, to what extent and how quickly the reform of the Common European Asylum System will take effect. This will certainly be a real acid test for the EU.
We must evaluate the decisions on the financial participation of the federal government in practice. It is good that the federal and state governments have finally agreed on the tried and tested "breathing system" again. However, I very much doubt whether the federal government's financial commitments will be sufficient to exempt local authorities from the costs of refugees. In this respect, I look at our municipal budgets with great concern."