Costs for taking in refugees: FDP parliamentary group leader Dürr: countries have to pay

Refugee admission costs
FDP parliamentary group leader Dürr: countries have to pay

4/16/2023 2:36 am

Municipalities are complaining about rising costs for accommodating refugees. FDP faction leader Dürr doesn’t give them much hope that the federal government will help out with billions more. The countries are responsible.

FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr has rejected demands from states and municipalities that the federal government should make more money available for taking in refugees. “Here I expressly see the duty of the states whose tax revenues have developed significantly better than that of the federal government,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

Dürr reminded the prime ministers of the legal situation. According to the Basic Law, the execution of the federal laws lies with the federal states, so the prime ministers are also responsible for the financing. “Nevertheless, the federal government made over six billion euros available for refugees in 2022 and 2023,” said the parliamentary group leader. “I would wish that the prime ministers would look again at the laws – and realize that they are responsible for equipping the municipalities.”

Dürr also warned of moderation when it came to basic child security. “We finally need a concept from the Minister for Family Affairs as to how the money for children can be easily accessed. Basic child security is not primarily about a further increase in payments,” he said. Above all, families, who would have a hard time anyway, “shouldn’t be put in front of a bureaucratic wall”.

“Rising interest rates extremely expensive for the state”

The federal budget for 2024 will be discussed after the summer. The debt brake in the Basic Law applies. “In this phase of rising interest rates, getting into debt has become extremely expensive for the state,” said Dürr. “The more interest we pay, the less we can invest in education, defense and other important tasks.”

With a view to the upcoming budget deliberations, Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner has repeatedly asked his cabinet colleagues to exercise restraint: “We have to make do with the income that citizens make available to politicians. New debt ideas or tax increases are out of the question for me.”