Benefit recipients in Germany who refuse to work should have their state handouts rescinded, and Ukrainian refugees are no different, the general secretary of Germany’s largest opposition party has claimed.
Carsten Linnemann, the deputy leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), was discussing the wider consideration of what should happen to the benefits of those unwilling to accept employment when he was asked specifically about Ukrainian refugees.
“Ukrainians defend our freedom. But if there is a service, it is associated with something in return,” he said during an interview with the Deutschlandfunk media outlet.
Just 234,000 Ukrainian refugees out of a total of 800,000 of working age are currently employed in Germany. Some 187,000 have permanent jobs with 47,000 working on temporary or fixed-term contracts.
The majority of refugees receive the Citizens’ Benefit known as Bürgergeld, which equates to €563 a month. Many refugees are also housed in taxpayer-funded state accommodation and receive other economic benefits.
Linnemann suggested that more than 100,000 people currently in receipt of benefits who point-blank refuse to work should be the first to lose their financial assistance.
“Statistics show that a six-figure number of people are unwilling to accept a job on principle. If this is the situation, the state should assume that people do not need (these benefits). Cutting benefits by 10, 20 or 30 percent is not enough. In this case, it is necessary to completely cancel the basic income,” he said.
In May, figures published by the Federal Employment Agency revealed that nearly two-thirds of German residents receiving Bürgergeld have a migration background — a figure that rises to three-quarters in some German states.
A total of 63.1 percent of recipients are of migrant origin and “most do not have a German passport,” Die Welt reported.
Of the 3.93 million people eligible for the taxpayer-funded benefit as of December 2023, some 2.48 million were classed as being of a migration background, with 1.83 million recipients not having German citizenship.
The percentage varies considerably among the federal states. In Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, and Hamburg, more than 7 in 10 of all recipients are migrants at 76.4 percent, 74.1 percent, and 72.8 percent, respectively.
The cost of Germany’s welfare state has soared since 2010. Previously costing German taxpayers €6.9 billion, the bill has skyrocketed to €15.4 billion a year today.
