Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) is urging the use of asylum seekers in agriculture in the Corona crisis. This is to compensate for the loss of seasonal workers who are currently not allowed to enter Germany. Asylum seekers who were previously banned from employment should be able to "take up work in agriculture in the short term", Klöckner told the newspapers of the Funke media group. "Many come from safe countries of origin such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia or Montenegro and want to get involved, get involved," she added.
The platform www.daslandhilft.de is a great success in arranging helpers for seeking businesses: "The rush is huge – there were over 30,000 advertisements in the first five days alone," said the minister.
"Now every helping hand is needed"
The Federal Government's integration commissioner, Annette Widmann-Mauz (CDU), has also called for the ban on working for asylum seekers and tolerated foreigners to be lifted in order to counteract Corona-related staff shortages in some industries: "Now every helping hand is needed," the Minister of State told the editorial network Germany. "It is therefore right that we now allow asylum seekers and tolerated persons to work temporarily as harvest helpers or in the supply chain." In any case, returns are currently difficult to carry out.
In Bavaria, Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann has apparently already taken appropriate measures, as the "Main Post" reports: According to this, immigration authorities are required to allow asylum seekers to start harvesting as soon as possible. The acquisition of harvest workers is in the public interest, which is why the immigration authorities should use their legal leeway and actively issue necessary employment permits, according to a recent letter from the ministry to the authorities.
The information provided by the Ministry of the Interior should therefore apply to asylum seekers in the ongoing proceedings as well as to asylum seekers that have already been rejected. Herrmann expressly pointed out that the corresponding employment permits would only be granted for a limited period of time during harvesting aid.
Harvest workers: "opportunistic exploitation"
The Bavarian Refugee Council has meanwhile described the measures as "tremendous opportunistic exploitation" of the asylum seekers, since many tolerated refugees would have been struggling to work or start training for years in vain: "Now that harvest workers are not allowed in or out of the country due to the corona crisis Refugees should step in to protect themselves, "said spokeswoman Johanna Böhm. Basically, it should be welcomed if refugees are given easier access to work: "But only with fair pay, comprehensive protective measures and in the long term", says a statement.
Sources: German press agency; "Main post"
This article was originally published on stern.de.