Baden-Württemberg: Municipalities promise unity at "refugee summit".

Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Under the pressure of increasing numbers of refugees, the state and municipalities as well as the most important associations have agreed to close ranks and demonstrated unity.

Baden-Württemberg: Municipalities promise unity at "refugee summit".

Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Under the pressure of increasing numbers of refugees, the state and municipalities as well as the most important associations have agreed to close ranks and demonstrated unity. The approximately 40 participants did not agree on far-reaching new results about more additional capacities in the cities and communities, about further offers in day-care centers and schools or further financial means during their several-hour discussion in Stuttgart.

The effort in the refugee issue was "resolutely accepted in a large community of responsibility," said Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) according to the statement after the "summit". The country will not leave the municipalities out in the rain, he promised. It reads similarly in a statement on the refugee summit, in which the participants of the meeting emphasized that they want to continue "to manage the accommodation, care and integration of the refugees in a joint effort". They also appeal to the people of Baden-Württemberg to support them.

Municipalities in particular had repeatedly warned that the country's, cities' and communities' capacity to take in refugees was largely exhausted - and that there was no sign of a decrease in the number of refugees. According to the Ministry of Migration, around 170,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in the southwest so far, 142,000 of them are from Ukraine. The number of places in the country's initial reception centers has increased from around 6,000 to more than 13,500 since the first shots were fired at the Russian-Ukrainian border at the end of February. The temporary accommodation currently has space for around 55,000 people.

Two weeks ago, the state and local authorities had already agreed on the distribution of the costs for refugees, i.e. for the accommodation and integration of refugees this year and next.