Almost half of the people receiving the citizen's allowance do not have a German passport

WELT Almost half of the people receiving the citizen's allowance do not have a German passport 37 minutes • 1 minute reading time Sahra Wagenknecht asked the federal government how many foreigners receive the citizen's allowance. In May, the figure was 2.7 million. Around a fifth of the people receiving the citizen's allowance who are able to work are considered "top-ups". Almost one in two people receiving the citizen's allowance do not have a German passport - opinions differ widely on this figure. In total, 2.7 million of the approximately 5.6 million people receiving basic benefits in May were foreigners, according to a government response to a BSW inquiry made available to the German Press Agency. Party founder Sahra Wagenknecht told the dpa: "The fact that almost half of the people receiving the citizen's allowance do not have a German passport is evidence of the failure of German migration and integration policy and contributes to the fact that the citizen's allowance has become increasingly unpopular." The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) is insisting on an objective debate, as DGB board member Anja Piel said. "War refugees do not choose their fate, and citizen's allowance is only available to recognized refugees," Piel told the dpa. "Learning a language, having your qualification recognized and then finding work costs refugees energy and time - that's why the employment rate increases the longer they stay." Piel also explained that a fifth of the approximately four million people who receive citizen's allowance who are able to work are actually working, but have to top up their low salary with state aid. Wagenknecht, on the other hand, gave the government a "sad assessment," since in May over 700,000 Ukrainians and more than 700,000 people from Syria and Afghanistan were receiving citizen's allowance "instead of securing their income through their own work." She said: "A strong welfare state only works if not everyone can immigrate to it."