Call for more coordination
More than 64,000 refugees reach Germany
3/8/2022, 7:16 p.m
With each passing day of the war in Ukraine, the number of people leaving the country in fear of Russian attacks is increasing. Tens of thousands of them have now arrived in Germany. In Berlin in particular, people would like more support from the federal government.
The war in Ukraine is driving more and more people to flee – including to Germany. There is still a warm place to sleep for everyone in this country. But the calls for more coordination and support from the federal government are getting louder. Since the start of the Russian attack on February 24, the Federal Police have identified 64,604 war refugees from Ukraine in Germany, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said.
The federal police are currently carrying out increased checks, the spokesman said. Since there are no stationary controls at the EU’s internal borders, “the number of war refugees who have entered Germany can actually be significantly higher”.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than two million people have fled Ukraine since the war began. Most of them went to Poland, as well as Hungary, Romania, Moldova and Slovakia, a UNHCR spokeswoman said. According to the UN Organization for Migration (IOM), there are a good 100,000 people of other nationalities among the refugees. Before the start of the war, Ukraine had a population of more than 44 million.
In view of the tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine, the deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki called for a quick federal-state meeting. This must be convened as soon as possible “in order to be able to distribute the many people throughout Germany,” he said. The capital is understandably overwhelmed at the moment because Berlin is the point of contact for the vast majority of fleeing women and children.
Berlin as “Gateway to Europe”
Berlin’s Social Senator Katja Kipping again called for nationwide coordination of the accommodation. “What we urgently need is that the traffic flows are not all directed to Berlin. And that would be the task of the Federal Minister of Transport,” she told Radioeins. The federal government has now started to make buses and employees available. Since Berlin is the “gateway to Europe for war refugees”, most of the buses stop at Berlin – and then head for other destinations from here. After a long, exhausting flight, people would then have to change to a bus that might go in a direction where they could have been taken straight away, Kipping said.
In Berlin, thanks in particular to the great commitment of volunteers, it has so far been possible to accommodate all refugees, even those who arrived at night. “Sometimes it crunches, sometimes there’s a backlog. But so far everyone has had a bed,” said the Berlin Senator for Social Affairs.
According to Deutsche Bahn, up to 300 buses are now available nationwide to transport arriving refugees. The additional support for refugee Ukrainian families was organized in cooperation with the German and Polish authorities, said a railway spokesman. So far, according to the group, 20 buses are traveling in and from Poland towards Germany, and there are 30 vehicles nationwide.
The buses would be used between Warsaw and Germany as well as within Germany and in the direction of other European cities – such as Paris. Around 20 vehicles are available every day at Berlin Central Station alone. People arriving there by train from Poland could be taken to different places in Germany. In the short term, the number could be increased to up to 50 buses. Coaches are also used in Brandenburg at the train stations in Frankfurt/Oder and Cottbus.
Do we need a prime ministerial conference?
“It is perfectly clear that the federal states must be supported here by the federal government,” said Thuringia’s Interior Minister Georg Maier. A prime ministerial conference would be ideal for this. Thuringia’s migration minister, Dirk Adams, doesn’t think this is absolutely necessary. It is more important that the federal government takes care of the distribution of the Ukrainian refugees quickly. “At the moment it is perfectly clear what needs to be done: Berlin and Brandenburg urgently need to be relieved.”
“It’s now about good accommodation for the people who have experienced something so terrible,” said Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer. The state government has assured the municipalities that the costs for the accommodation will be covered.
“We are in close contact with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and are of course also prepared to get involved in a possible coordination committee at federal level,” said the President of the German District Association, Reinhard Sager. “In order for everything to go well, early involvement in political decisions and good interaction in the interests of the displaced are essential,” he added. At the same time, Sager was deeply impressed by the people’s willingness to help.