The debate about refugees and asylum seekers is heating up again in Germany ahead of a summit this Wednesday (May 10) in Berlin. Arguments have mostly centered around where the growing number of people seeking protection in Germany – over a million last year – should go, and whether the federal or state governments should bear the cost.

The leaders of the 16 states are keeping up pressure on the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, for more support to meet the needs of the refugees and asylum seekers. Last November, Scholz promised the states €2.75 billion to continue to host refugees this year, including a €1.25 billion recurring annual payment.

So far Scholz and the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, have rejected the states’ calls for more funds, saying the federal government is already paying about €5 billion to look after the needs of refugees from Ukraine, who were the majority of new arrivals in 2022.

Change of course

Beyond calls for more financial aid, the states are also urging the government to signal a change of course on asylum and migration.

The CDU parliamentary leader, Thorsten Frei, has called for a cap on the number of asylum seekers. At the current rate, he told the newspaper Tagesspiegel, Germany will have received 330,000 asylum applications by the end of the year.

"Municipalities [responsible for accommodation needs of asylum seekers: ed. Note] need additional financial support, but above all we need measures to control and limit migration," Frei said. 

Two state leaders in Germany’s east want checks introduced at the borders with Poland and Czech Republic, both European Union member states, to prevent irregular migrants from entering Germany, while Hesse’s premier, Boris Rhein, demanded that the government start a "repatriation offensive," to force rejected asylum seekers to leave the country.

Read more: Germany: Support for refugees and migrants waning, according to poll

Arrivals increase

The number of people seeking protection in Germany has risen significantly in the past year, mainly due to the war in Ukraine: more than a million people fleeing Ukraine have been registered in Germany, mostly women and children.

There was also an increase in 'regular' asylum applications, after a fall during the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 218,000 applied for asylum in Germany in 2022, 47% more than the previous year. The number has continued to rise over the first quarter of 2023, with most applicants from Syria and Afghanistan.

Even though more people arrived in Germany seeking protection in 2022 than in 2015, widely described as a year of 'migration crisis', there is an important difference between then and now: According to a study by the office of migration and refugees (BAMF), about three quarters of the Ukrainian refugees were hosted by private individuals, putting relatively little pressure on government-run accommodation facilities in the states and regions.

Government plans

The federal government is not expected to satisfy the states’ demands for more funds. According to the German broadcaster ARD and the Reuters news agency, it has no plans to increase financial aid significantly. It is already trying to limit arrivals of asylum seekers, with controls at the Austrian border and at other borders. The German government has also announced that it is examining whether asylum procedures can be carried out outside the European Union.

Germany remains committed to pursuing a joint approach with the rest of the EU, and the government wants the so-called Common European Asylum System to be achieved by next year. The plans include tighter border security, a reliable registration system, asylum procedures at the borders and a fair distribution of asylum seekers.

With epd, dpa, Der Spiegel

Also read: German cities 'at their limits' in managing refugee accommodation