Germany introduces new measures to make country less attractive to migrants • FRANCE 24 English

Germany introduces new measures to make country less attractive to migrants • FRANCE 24 English

[Music] they mow The Lawns sweep the streets and clean the bathrooms of their living quarters in Sal or LA in the state of thuringia 70 adult Asylum Seekers are now required to work up to 4 hours a day it is the first district in Germany to introduce obligatory labor requirements paying just 80 cents an hour Asylum Seekers cannot refuse this community service even for those who are looking for a real job like Osama and Muhammad for is good it’s not good I want to work to have a real full-time job full that would be nice it’s better than sleeping all day but you know here in Germany the minimum wage is €13 an hour we do this for 80 cents and here is migrants risk losing €180 of their monthly social benefits of € 460 if they refuse the work and the allowances are now issued on payment cards or apps that can only be spent locally here the card does not work everywhere I often want to buy a coffee or some clothes in a neighboring town and the payment doesn’t go through cash withdrawals are impossible with with the card and Bank transfers within Germany and internationally are blocked Advocates of the scheme argue that migrants often send the financial aid they receive from the state back home conservative politicians in thuringia hope the measures will make Germany less attractive to migrants frankly we’ve reached a Breaking Point with the number of refugees as Council leader it’s also my role to show local people that it’s not only the far right that can come up with Solutions and the Democratic parties can also tackle this under existing laws the new system should be imposed across Germany by the end of the year but regions facing big swings to the farri right afd party in the September local elections have been the first to implement it a few hundred kilometers away in Brandenburg region the election campaign is already in full swing it’s amazing to see what financial aid these migrants get while pensions remain stagnant every Wednesday at the gon Market local counselor Hans Kristoff burnt meets his constituents handing out unlimited sausages and cold drinks here the far right afd Party candidate is in his element because immigration is the number one concern why does migration bother me because there are so many propers in our region what’s changed in recent years is that there are simply too many migrants they have a completely different culture than we do H Kristoff burnt questions the entire migration policy pursued by successive governments over the past decade he thinks the new restrictions on Asylum Seekers don’t go far enough never mind the war in Syria or the Taliban in Afghanistan he thinks migrants should be sent home Syria and Afghanistan are not countries in crisis particularly not Afghanistan the same applies to Turkey where large numbers of Asylum Seekers come from send them home that’s what we’re campaigning for it is a Viewpoint that is becoming increasingly normalized responding to the growing influence of the extreme right some conservative politicians want to limit Asylum applications to 60,000 per year until 2030 for groups that work for the integration of migrants it is a worrying trend on the ground their concern is palpable this anti-migrant atmosphere is scary we feel it on the street we see it on campaign posters many people who arrive are asking us if the far right is already in power and if they should be worried the regional head for integration in thuringia says the hardening of refugee policies above all reflects a shift of the political debate towards the extreme right we’re dealing with politicians who are giving into a certain group of people to show their firm and that by setting up this credit card system they’re depriving migrants of cash which is a good thing so money stays local but these measures are populous playing politics at the expense of migrants Germany Remains the main destination for Asylum seekers in Europe with more than 300,000 arrivals last year Berlin is now studying the possibility of processing these applications outside of EU borders

From a payment card that does not allow cash withdrawals, to mandatory community service, Germany is introducing measures to make the country less attractive to migrants. The country remains the destination of choice for asylum seekers within the EU. More than 330,000 people sought asylum there last year: almost a third of all applications in the EU, according to the European Asylum Agency. But the new measures – agreed by the government and regional leaders last November – are beginning to appear in municipalities across the country, especially in eastern Germany, where regional elections are due in September. The far-right AfD party is leading the polls there and its main campaign theme is immigration. Our correspondents report.
#Germany #immigration #EU

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