“Not employable for much longer”
CSU: No more citizen’s allowance for Ukrainian conscripts
15.06.2024, 08:30 a.m.
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Many Ukrainians are afraid of having to go to war against the Russian invaders and are fleeing the country. The Bavarian Interior Minister wants to persuade them to return and cut their citizen’s allowance. A demand that not everyone supports so vehemently.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann wants to persuade able-bodied Ukrainians living in Germany to return and will put this up for discussion at the Interior Ministers’ Conference next week. “Several tens of thousands of men who are subject to conscription in Ukraine receive citizen’s allowance here in Germany,” Herrmann told the German editorial network. “This will not be something that the German population can accept for much longer.”
It cannot be the case that “we make further efforts to support Ukraine in its defense against Russia, which I believe is right, and at the same time reward people who evade conscription,” Herrmann continued. This is all the more true as the reintroduction of conscription is being discussed in Germany itself.
“We have to talk about the issue at the Interior Ministers’ Conference,” demanded the CSU politician. “Under no circumstances should replacement papers be issued. In addition, we must make it clear that people who evade conscription will no longer be paid citizen’s allowance.”
Restraint outside the Union
Hesse’s Interior Minister Roman Poseck and defense expert Roderich Kiesewetter from the CDU had previously expressed similar views. Thuringia’s SPD Interior Minister Georg Maier, the Greens and the FDP, however, reacted with restraint. The same applies to the Reservists’ Association. The Interior Ministers’ Conference will take place next week.
According to RND information, around 256,000 male Ukrainians between the ages of 18 and 60 are currently residing in Germany. Most recently, the number was just under 210,000. In April, the Ukrainian government decided not to issue them passports abroad. This will force them to register with the domestic army – with the risk of not being able to leave the country and possibly being drafted and sent to the front.