German government at odds with federal states over refugees

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the premiers of federal states met in Berlin on Wednesday to overcome differences on migration, and the financing of the refugee operations.

Ahead of the key talks, Hendrik Wust, North Rhine-Westphalia’s premier, said regional and local authorities need more financial support from the central government to accommodate refugees.

"Those who decide how to manage immigration must also take financial responsibility for their decisions. The central government can no longer shift its responsibility to cities and local municipalities,” he told local media.

Germany’s 16 federal states are demanding more financial support from the central government amid a drastic increase of refugees arriving in the country.

Scholz’s government has so far rejected these calls, arguing that it provided €29.8 billion ($32.8 billion) last year from the budget for refugee operations, and will also allocate €26.6 billion ($ 29.3 billion) this year.

Local authorities are facing a crisis in providing accommodation and social support for newly arrived asylum seekers, after a large refugee wave from Ukraine last year.

More than 1 million Ukrainian refugees are currently living in Germany.

Asylum applications in the first four months of the year increased by nearly 78% and reached 101,981, according to official figures. Many of them were refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann warned last week that the figures are likely to increase in the coming months and could reach 400,000 at the end of the year.