Two senior Social Democratic Party (SPD) district administrators in the German state of Thuringia have broken with their party’s national stance by demanding that most non-EU migrants — including asylum seekers and recognized refugees — receive social benefits only as interest-free loans, repayable once they find work.
Matthias Jendricke, district administrator for Nordhausen, and Marko Wolfram, who heads the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district, say Berlin must “finally” overhaul what they describe as an “increasingly dysfunctional” system.
Jendricke told Stern magazine that anyone “who comes to our state and hasn’t paid anything into their accounts so far will only be able to receive social benefits as an interest-free loan.”
The pair argues the model should resemble Germany’s student loan system (BAföG), where repayments can be reduced or partly forgiven for those who quickly secure work and integrate. Wolfram said such an approach would “create a positive incentive to integrate quickly” while easing resentment among German taxpayers. Both stress that benefits for minors would remain non-repayable.
Germany’s “citizen’s benefit” (Bürgergeld) cost €46.9 billion in 2024, with nearly half of the 4 million recipients being foreign nationals. However, data from the Federal Employment Agency published in November last year showed that 63 percent of recipients have a migration background, i.e., they may be naturalized by are foreign-born or first-generation immigrants.
Refugees make up around 30 percent of claimants, with €6.3 billion spent on Ukrainians alone last year. Despite this, only about one-third of working-age Ukrainian refugees are employed.
Current Bürgergeld rules pay single adult claimants €563 a month, plus housing and heating costs. Benefits for asylum seekers are lower, but gross expenditure for this group still reached €6.3 billion in 2023, Stern notes.
Jendricke says repayment incentives could be generous — halving debt for refugees who find work within a year and pass a language test, and even offering repayment bonuses to parents whose children graduate from school.
The proposal faces significant legal hurdles. In 2022, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that a humane minimum standard of living is guaranteed under the Basic Law to all residents in Germany, regardless of nationality.
The opposition AfD has called for foreign nationals to receive basic security only after proving 10 years of social insurance contributions, and for payments to be limited to one year. Co-leader Alice Weidel insists that only those who have paid into Germany’s social system should be allowed to benefit.
Public debate has been fuelled by recent reports showing the disproportionate share of welfare funds going to foreigners. Government data cited by Bild found that almost half of Germany’s €17.68 billion housing support in 2024 went to non-citizens, who make up just 15 percent of the population.
Earlier this week, Remix News reported how Germany’s Federal Employment Agency is actively promoting the country’s “citizen’s benefit” to young migrants, presenting it online as a straightforward and appealing option for those without work.
A dedicated section of the agency’s website, written in English for “people from abroad,” features a smiling young couple — including a man in his early thirties holding a book and a woman in a hijab — under the headline: “If you are unable to finance your own living expenses, under certain circumstances the Jobcenter will support you with the citizen’s benefit.”
