Germany: Things are getting tight for real refugees
Written by Herman Mueller for Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung.
Apparently aimed at the entire EU, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) announced at the end of February that Europe “stands by the side of the Ukrainians and we will take them all in”. Only a few days later it became clear in Berlin what this announcement means in reality. Shortly after the start of the Russian invasion, Berlin's governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) declared that the city was preparing to initially have to accommodate 20,000 people. On March 4th and 5th alone, 11,000 war refugees arrived in Berlin every day. Within three days, the city even had to take care of the accommodation of around 30,000 Ukrainians. For comparison: During the wave of immigration in 2015, the daily high for arrivals in Berlin was around 1000 people.
With every train that arrives at Berlin Central Station from Warsaw, the number of Ukrainian war refugees continues to rise. Last Sunday, Giffey apparently felt compelled to say in the ZDF morning magazine: "It's about making the decision not to let all special trains and buses arrrive in Berlin."
"Create safe havens!"
In fact, the Ukrainians arriving in Berlin, who, according to the federal police, are mostly women and children, find refugee accommodation that is already more than 90 percent occupied. In order to be able to accommodate people at all, the Senate is now resorting to accommodation in the Berlin area. Thousands of Berliners have also offered to take in Ukrainian refugees.
The massive wave of refugees due to a war in Europe represents an extremely exceptional situation for Berlin. However, undesirable developments in asylum policy in recent years are now having an aggravating effect. The 83 homes of the Berlin State Office for Refugees, for example, almost reached their capacity limits last year.
At the same time, the previous red-red-green senate, which ruled until last autumn, offensively drummed for being allowed to take in additional immigrants from other countries who entered the EU via the Mediterranean as part of the “Seebrücke – Create Safe Havens!” initiative. The Senate received support from activists who, under the slogan “We have space!”, also wanted to push through the admission of additional immigrants.
The Senate, on the other hand, was largely silent on the long-standing non-functioning of the Dublin asylum system. According to the existing EU asylum rules, the majority of asylum seekers in Germany should at least have been registered in another EU country on their way to Germany. Actually, according to the so-called Dublin rules, the first EU country that the asylum seeker enters is also responsible for their asylum application. As the Welt am Sonntag reports, citing the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, from the beginning of 2021 to the end of November 53 percent of the asylum applicants in Germany were not stored in the EU database Eurodac. This raises the suspicion that other EU countries simply waved immigrants through to Germany on a large scale instead of processing the asylum procedures themselves.
Ukranian refugees may stay up to three years
In any case, the fact is that Germany was by far the most important country of destination for asylum seekers in the EU last year. Berlin and Germany as a whole will have to adjust to becoming one of the most important destinations for Ukrainian war refugees.
On March 3, the EU put a so-called mass influx directive into force for the first time for people from Ukraine. As a result of this regulation, Ukrainians do not have to go through an asylum procedure in any EU country, they immediately receive a direct right of residence. Instead of mandatory distribution quotas for all EU countries, the directive allows refugees to freely choose their destination country. According to a report by Business Insider, the federal government is also considering further relief for Ukrainian war refugees. As a result, the federal government wants to use a special provision in the Residence Act to allow Ukrainians to stay in Germany for up to three years.
For the refugees from the Ukraine, this would also be associated with a work permit and the right to state support under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. The EU's mass influx directive, together with the plans of the traffic light government, could quickly create a pull that will make attempts to distribute war refugees to all EU countries fail.
With every train that arrives at Berlin Central Station from Warsaw, the number of Ukrainian war refugees continues to rise. Last Sunday, Giffey apparently felt compelled to say in the ZDF morning magazine: "It's about making the decision not to let all special trains and buses arrrive in Berlin."
"Create safe havens!"
In fact, the Ukrainians arriving in Berlin, who, according to the federal police, are mostly women and children, find refugee accommodation that is already more than 90 percent occupied. In order to be able to accommodate people at all, the Senate is now resorting to accommodation in the Berlin area. Thousands of Berliners have also offered to take in Ukrainian refugees.
The massive wave of refugees due to a war in Europe represents an extremely exceptional situation for Berlin. However, undesirable developments in asylum policy in recent years are now having an aggravating effect. The 83 homes of the Berlin State Office for Refugees, for example, almost reached their capacity limits last year.
At the same time, the previous red-red-green senate, which ruled until last autumn, offensively drummed for being allowed to take in additional immigrants from other countries who entered the EU via the Mediterranean as part of the “Seebrücke – Create Safe Havens!” initiative. The Senate received support from activists who, under the slogan “We have space!”, also wanted to push through the admission of additional immigrants.
The Senate, on the other hand, was largely silent on the long-standing non-functioning of the Dublin asylum system. According to the existing EU asylum rules, the majority of asylum seekers in Germany should at least have been registered in another EU country on their way to Germany. Actually, according to the so-called Dublin rules, the first EU country that the asylum seeker enters is also responsible for their asylum application. As the Welt am Sonntag reports, citing the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, from the beginning of 2021 to the end of November 53 percent of the asylum applicants in Germany were not stored in the EU database Eurodac. This raises the suspicion that other EU countries simply waved immigrants through to Germany on a large scale instead of processing the asylum procedures themselves.
Ukranian refugees may stay up to three years
In any case, the fact is that Germany was by far the most important country of destination for asylum seekers in the EU last year. Berlin and Germany as a whole will have to adjust to becoming one of the most important destinations for Ukrainian war refugees.
On March 3, the EU put a so-called mass influx directive into force for the first time for people from Ukraine. As a result of this regulation, Ukrainians do not have to go through an asylum procedure in any EU country, they immediately receive a direct right of residence. Instead of mandatory distribution quotas for all EU countries, the directive allows refugees to freely choose their destination country. According to a report by Business Insider, the federal government is also considering further relief for Ukrainian war refugees. As a result, the federal government wants to use a special provision in the Residence Act to allow Ukrainians to stay in Germany for up to three years.
For the refugees from the Ukraine, this would also be associated with a work permit and the right to state support under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. The EU's mass influx directive, together with the plans of the traffic light government, could quickly create a pull that will make attempts to distribute war refugees to all EU countries fail.
Source: Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung
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