City Day warns of social tensions near refugee facilities

Before the migration summit of the federal and state governments on Thursday, the German Association of Cities warns of increasing tensions in the vicinity of refugee facilities. “Social tensions sometimes grow in the vicinity of refugee facilities. That's a big concern for us in the cities," said Helmut Dedy, managing director of the "Rheinische Post".

Dedy predicted that the number of refugees would continue to rise. People would now come to Germany from the Turkish-Syrian earthquake area. Tents, container villages and exhibition halls in the cities hardly have any free space. The federal government must therefore build up its own absorption capacities "as a buffer" and coordinate this with the federal states.

In addition, according to the City Day, there is a lack of staff and daycare and school places for refugees. Integration cannot succeed without further financial and personnel support from the federal and state governments. "The financial resources for taking in the refugees must be dynamically adjusted to the actual number of refugees," Dedy demanded.

The refugee summit takes place on Thursday. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) emphasized in advance the humanitarian effort involved in caring for war refugees from Ukraine. "To date, we have offered protection to 1,062,000 Ukrainians from Putin's brutal attacks," Faeser told the Rheinische Post.

This could have saved many lives. Eight out of ten refugees came to Germany from Ukraine last year. Accommodating and caring for so many people well takes more and more strength the longer it takes, said Faeser. This brings the country to its limits in many places.

She called again for a stronger European distribution of war refugees. In 2022, the federal government supported the states and municipalities financially with 3.5 billion euros, she said. A further 2.75 billion euros have been agreed for this year. In addition, the federal government has relieved the states and municipalities financially to a considerable extent through additional sales tax funds. In addition, almost 69,000 accommodation places in federal properties were made available.

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