Erfurt (dpa/th) - The administrative districts in Thuringia are demanding that the state continue to bear the full amount of the municipal costs for the accommodation of Ukrainian war refugees. After these refugees were no longer treated legally as asylum seekers but as Hartz IV recipients since June 1, the municipalities were threatened with enormous costs, said the President of the Thuringian district association, Martina Schweinsburg, on Friday in Erfurt. According to the state administration office, around 22,500 refugees from the Ukraine are now living in Thuringia.
For example, in the case of Hartz IV recipients, the districts and urban districts bear the housing costs and receive part of the money from the federal government. The country had promised to cover all of the costs in accordance with the Asylum Seekers Act.
According to Schweinsburg, the group of Ukrainian refugees coming to Thuringia is now changing. At first it was mainly women with children, but now more large families are coming. "There are completely different costs involved," she said. The state administration office estimates the proportion of large families among the refugees at around five percent, as a spokesman said on request.
Schweinsburg was dissatisfied with a draft law by the red-red-green coalition, which is to be introduced in the next state parliament session. It is about the payment of around 18.7 million euros for the housing costs of the refugees to the municipalities this year. Around 6.1 million euros are planned for each of the next three years. Red-Red-Green wants to react to the changed responsibilities for Ukraine refugees.
The Thuringia Association of Towns and Municipalities also called on Friday for the state to fully finance the refugee costs. "It is unacceptable that, after months of the refugee crisis due to the war in Ukraine, the state government has still not finally made satisfactory arrangements to cover the costs in full," said the mayor's spokesman, Julian Vonarb.
