Nearly half of all recipients of welfare in Germany are non-citizens, government-sourced data has disclosed.
Documents provided by the federal government upon the request of the left-populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party revealed that of the 5.6 million people recorded as being on welfare as of May 2024, 2.7 million were not German citizens.
The figure has prompted outrage from both the left and right, with Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Siegbert Droese warning that the stat was yet more evidence that the country’s immigration system is no longer fit for purpose.
“This figure shows the consequences of the wrong social and asylum policy with frightening clarity!” he told Brussels Signal.
“The German social system no longer serves the German people, but attracts economic migrants into the country, who often enter illegally on the asylum ticket.
“This perverse practice must be stopped!” he added.
The Swedish Government has proposed a relocation grant of up to 350,000 krona (€30,000) for each migrant who wishes to return to their home country as part of the upcoming autumn budget. https://t.co/tOqMplvF1o
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 13, 2024
BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht issued a similar statement blasting Germany’s migration policies, with the socialist politician attributing a decline in how welfare is perceived by workers to it.
“The fact that almost half of the citizens’ allowance recipients now do not have a German passport is evidence of the failure of German migration and integration policy and contributes to the fact that the citizens’ allowance has become increasingly unpopular,” she said.
Some less hostile to mass migration in the country have tried to defend the figure, however. Anja Piel, a member of the board of the German Trade Union Confederation, claimed that many “refugees” in the country had no choice but to take state cash.
“War refugees do not choose their fate, and citizen’s allowance is only available to recognized refugees,” she claimed.
“Learning a language, having your qualification recognized and then finding work costs refugees energy and time — that’s why the employment rate increases with the length of their stay.”
Piel’s last claim has not prevented many Germans from expressing shock at the failure of many migrants to find employment.
According to a report by Bild, the collective employment rate of people from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria was 30.3 per cent as of July 2023.
The eight countries represent the lion’s share of non-Ukrainian migrants in Germany, with Ukrainians also reportedly struggling to find work.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called the unilateral decision by Germany to reintroduce border controls “unacceptable”, adding that it was the country's failed migration policies that caused the migrant crisis in the first place. https://t.co/RdK6eSlKXQ
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 11, 2024
