The growing number of refugees is bringing our society to a tipping point

Battles over the distribution of living space between people who have been living here since 2015, recently or have always been: this is the harsh reality in many communities. Inflation and the energy crisis are added to this. The mood is tense and boiling over cannot be ruled out.

The municipalities are facing a massive challenge with numerous Ukrainian refugees and the growing influx of asylum seekers. In addition to the war, winter has broken out in Ukraine, Putin is bombing the infrastructure, so people in Ukraine live without electricity and heating.

Ukraine is expecting the harshest winter in history – I expect another tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Ukrainian women and children. De facto, there are already more migrants living in many municipalities than in the year of the 2015/16 refugee crisis.

The solidarity of the population is put to the test again when questions like "Are we closing the local gym to prevent people from being homeless?" are discussed. The fact that sports halls have to be closed across the board and that they are not available for club or school sports, as was the case during the corona lockdowns or in the refugee crisis, is a matter of weeks for me, not months. All of this can become an issue much faster than many people think.

The first signs that we are heading for a social tipping point appear when refugees and asylum seekers are "categorised". True to the motto: "Yes to Ukrainians, no to Iraqis and Eritreans."

I categorically reject these two-class debates, they do not help to solve the problem, the question of accommodation. It would help if people who are obliged to leave the country, whose asylum application has been rejected or who have forfeited their right of residence are consistently deported.

It would also help enormously if the federal government did not set any further incentives to flee and reduced existing ones. All of this would contribute to the situation easing on site in the short to medium term.

The districts of Viersen and Olpe, for example, have already posted overload reports. The recording tipping point has already been exceeded there. The refugees then have to be accommodated in other municipalities. The Königstein key determines how many people have to be admitted in a federal state. Unfortunately, the basis of tax revenue, the population, and the availability of living space have not played a role in this analysis so far.

I am well aware that this guest post will not please individuals. That's not what I'm about. It is about a realistic analysis of the situation on site. I see that we are heading towards a social tipping point, the tipping point of acceptance and solidarity.

The mood must not be poisoned by agitators from the right or fabric softeners from the left. The middle of our society is required to prevent this with all their might. The people who live here and the people who come here to find housing and work must not be played off against one another.

Action must be taken now to strengthen the performance and integration capabilities of the municipalities. At least that's what we should have learned from the 2015/16 refugee crisis.

Frederik Paul, 26, is parliamentary group leader of the CDU in the council of the municipality of Alpen and district leader of the Junge Union Niederrhein.