After the CDU/CSU opposition union, the representative of the coalition government, the secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP), Bijan Djir-Sarai, in an interview with the Bild daily, said that refugees from Ukraine should be financially equal to asylum seekers, writes DW.
From the day of arrival, refugees from Ukraine receive the so-called citizen’s money (Bürgergeld), which is basically social assistance for people who are looking for employment and have access to the labor market.
Asylum applicants receive assistance under the law on maintenance of asylum applicants, and during that time they are not allowed access to the legal labor market.
Specifically financially, it looks like this: the amount for singles is 563 euros per month. In addition, the state takes over the entire rent and utilities.
For asylum applicants for the duration of the application recognition procedure, as well as for those whose application was rejected but cannot be deported for humanitarian reasons, the monthly allowance for single person is 460 euros.
In addition, the state bears the costs of accommodation in reception centers for refugees. Only recipients of civil money and asylum seekers after recognized status are entitled to a child allowance of 250 euros per child.
After the increase in social assistance at the beginning of the year, a discussion was started in Germany about whether it is worth working at all, considering that a family with three children is entitled to a considerable financial amount per month through social assistance.
“Newly arrived refugees should no longer receive civil money, but assistance like that received by asylum seekers,” said Djir-Sarai.
He believes that this would encourage better and faster integration into the German labor market.
“We have a shortage of workers everywhere, in catering, construction or in the care sector. We would not continue to finance unemployment with taxpayers’ money, but we must make sure that people find work,” said this liberal politician.
According to the data of the German federal government, in January 2024, about 119,000 Ukrainian refugees were employed out of more than a million of them, as many as have arrived since the beginning of the Russian aggression in February 2022.
Many of these refugees are currently in integration programs, i.e. learning German or other vocational training measures, and a large part of the refugees are women with children who came to Germany without a spouse.
Photo: AP
