Are Ukrainian refugees being lured to Germany in the "social hammock"? The term does not come from CDU leader Merz, but from Joachim Walter. The President of the District Council has long warned against overburdening the municipalities.
Fellbach (dpa/lsw) - The district council expects Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) on Monday (from 10 a.m.) to give clear answers to urgent questions in the energy and refugee crisis. At the district meeting in Fellbach, the Greens politician will give a speech in front of around 300 listeners from politics, associations, administration and business. The president of the district council, Joachim Walter, has been warning for a long time that the capacity to take in refugees will soon be exhausted. He also urges the state to assume all of the municipal costs for caring for refugees. The Tübingen district administrator is applying again for the office of president, which he has held since 2013.
Walter recently warned that Germany was luring Ukrainian refugees "into the social hammock." It is true that one wants to continue to take in people who are fleeing the war zone. However, Ukrainians who already have secure accommodation in other EU countries such as Poland, Spain or Italy are increasingly coming to Germany for financial reasons. Ukrainian refugees have been receiving Hartz IV since June 1st and, thanks to the so-called change of legal status, can also rent their own apartment and take up work. "It has a strong appeal," Walter explained.
In view of the energy crisis, the municipalities are pressing for state standards and bureaucratic hurdles to be removed in certain places. They are also demanding more support for financing hospitals and for the costs of integrating disabled children into schools.
