CONTINUOUSLY RISING COSTS

CONTINUOUSLY RISING COSTS Flight and migration are costing Germany almost as much as the Bundeswehr this year As of: November 6th, 2023 | Reading time: 4 minutes Karsten Seibel By Karsten Seibel Economics and finance editor The federal and state governments are discussing how to finance refugee costs. While the prime minister demands 10,500 euros per year for each refugee, the federal government is asking for a sum of 5,000 euros. “The federal government will have to move,” says Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Rhein (SPD). Y The prime minister's summit with Chancellor Olaf Scholz is primarily about one thing: a lot of money. In view of the increasing number of refugees, the federal government's support is not enough for the states - the federal government, for its part, refers to a new tax estimate. Advertisement At the top meeting of the state heads of government with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Chancellery, a number of topics are on the agenda. This includes reducing bureaucracy, faster planning and approval procedures and the future of the Germany Ticket. Given the growing number of people seeking protection, the main focus will be on the constantly rising costs associated with flight and migration - for accommodation, care and the containment of irregular migration. The amounts being haggled over between the federal, state and local governments are enormous. This year, the expected expenditure in connection with flight and migration will add up to 48.2 billion euros - after almost 42 billion euros in 2022. This is shown by figures from the Federal Ministry of Finance, as well as a list by a working group of the 16 state finance ministers. Both are available to WELT. This means that the expenditure on escape and migration roughly corresponds to the annual expenditure on defense, which will be over 50 billion euros this year - without the almost nine billion euros from the special fund. According to current plans, the federal government will contribute 28.6 billion euros this year, and the states and municipalities together will contribute 19.6 billion euros. The largest items include expenses for the admission, accommodation and registration of refugees, costs for school and extracurricular care for children and young people, as well as other social expenses. However, the large difference in expenditure between the federal government on the one hand and states/municipalities on the other has nothing to do with costs that arise in Germany. In its figures, the federal government also lists the 10.7 billion euros that are spent abroad to combat the causes of flight, such as natural disasters and epidemics. If you exclude these expenses, the burden on the federal and state governments is similarly high. This is also because the federal government directly contributes 3.75 billion euros to the asylum and refugee costs of the states and municipalities. This reduces their total burden from 23.3 billion euros to 19.6 billion euros. So much for the 2023 figures for the talks in the Chancellery. Return required by the “breathing system”. In view of the increasing number of refugees, the federal government's support is not enough for the Prime Minister - especially since, according to the government's draft federal budget, the support is expected to fall to 1.25 billion euros in the coming year. The reason for this is, among other things, that the federal government is now covering the costs for Ukraine refugees. As early as September, the state prime ministers called for a return to a so-called breathing system: the more people come, the more money the federal government transfers.