CDU and FDP ideas are rejected
Government does not plan new citizen’s allowance rules for Ukrainians
17.06.2024, 14:18
If the CDU has its way, Ukrainians who are required to do military service in Germany will be deprived of their citizen’s allowance, the FDP is demanding that newly arrived refugees from the attacked country should only be granted asylum seeker benefits. Both ideas, however, have been rejected by Labor Minister Heil and Chancellor Scholz.
The federal government has no plans to cancel or limit the citizen’s allowance for refugees from Ukraine. “We have no plans to change this,” said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Labor. One goal of the current regulation is to quickly offer refugees from Ukraine integration services, advice and qualification opportunities, “because we want to get these people into work.” This is not possible using asylum seeker benefits.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit also said that he knew of “no plans to change that.” Representatives from the Union had previously called for Ukrainians of military age to be deprived of their citizen’s allowance. FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai demanded that all newly arrived war refugees no longer receive citizen’s allowance. In future, they should receive asylum seeker benefits.
After the start of the Russian war of aggression in February 2022, the federal government decided that Ukrainian refugees do not have to apply for asylum in Germany. They are thus automatically granted a right of residence and receive citizen’s allowance and no asylum seeker benefits. Hebestreit pointed out that this regulation was also a “massive relief” for the states and the Federal Office for Migration, which would otherwise have had to examine hundreds of thousands of asylum applications.
According to a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior, there are currently around 1.17 million people from Ukraine living in Germany. According to the Central Register of Foreigners, 260,000 of them are men aged between 18 and 60. However, this does not say anything about whether these men are fit for military service, for example because of their state of health, the spokesman stressed.
The German exception for waiving asylum procedures for Ukrainians is based on a decision at EU level. According to the EU mass influx directive, Ukrainians are generally considered to be in need of protection and do not have to go through an asylum procedure. According to the ministry spokesperson, the validity of the exception has just been extended at EU level until March 2025.