Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - Saxony-Anhalt's district administrators are calling for a better distribution of refugees across all EU member states. "We expect that the European Union will finally agree on a fair overall concept," said the President of the Saxony-Anhalt District Council, Götz Ulrich (CDU), on Monday in Magdeburg. Ulrich is a district administrator in the Burgenland district.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, around 29,100 war refugees from Ukraine have been admitted to Saxony-Anhalt so far this year. Among them are at least 2,794 kindergarten-age children and 6,939 school-age children. In addition, more than 5,000 asylum seekers were admitted by the beginning of December.
The district administrators called on the federal government to avoid overburdening the districts. One measure could be an amendment to the Residence Act. In the future, the Federal Council should have a say in whether and which groups of foreigners from certain countries would be granted admission. "We therefore welcome the Federal Council initiative of the state government to bind such decisions to the agreement of the states in the future," said the district administrator of the Salzland district, Markus Bauer (SPD).
Saxony-Anhalt's Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) spoke out last week in favor of the federal government coordinating commitments for refugee reception programs with the states in the future. She wants to propose to the cabinet to start a corresponding Federal Council initiative.
In the future, the approval of the Federal Council will be required for new federal admission programs. With this measure, Zieschang wants to ensure that the absorption capacity of the municipalities is better taken into account.
