“We are also at the limit”

Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher pointed out that the federal states and municipalities not only need money but also enough accommodation to take in refugees. "We have to see that in the metropolises, where space is scarce, it's not just a question of money, but at some point we also need the space or real estate to accommodate people," said the SPD politician in the ntv broadcast "

Hamburg has taken in more than 30,000 refugees from Ukraine alone. Even if some of them were staying with friends or relatives, the city of Hamburg would not only have to pay a lot for caring for the people, said Tschentscher. "I also expect the federal government to see how high the costs are for the states and local authorities."

The municipalities are demanding a long-term strategy for taking in refugees in Germany from the federal and state governments. A federal-state summit with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on refugee costs is planned for May 10th.

The police union (GdP) meanwhile assumes that the number of refugees reaching Germany will continue to rise significantly in the coming months. Andreas Roßkopf, GDP officer for the federal police department, told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung": "We are currently detecting around 1,500 illegal entries per week at the borders. It will certainly not stop there. With every month that gets warmer, more people come.”

The mass of people who reached the German borders are now being smuggled through Europe by professional gangs, explained Roßkopf: “These are full professionals who advertise with a guarantee of success.”

The federal police must be technically better equipped, the trade unionist demanded. He mentioned drones, cameras and more modern emergency vehicles. Fixed border controls, on the other hand, are not possible: "We can't do that in Germany, we don't have that many police officers who are needed for this." Instead, the EU's external borders must be better secured, Roßkopf demanded.