| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Europe | |
| Asylum seekers will be stripped of their benefits under new rules in Germany as the country continues to crack down on migration | |
| 2024-10-19 | |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Asylum seekers will be stripped of their benefits as Germany cracks down on immigration after the country's parliament on Friday voted to tighten its rules for refugees. The package of measures will withdraw benefits from asylum seekers who have already been registered in other EU countries and are slated for deportation. It will also mean that refugees who temporarily return to their home countries will 'as a rule' lose their right to protection in Germany, according to the legislation. The same will apply to refugees who commit crimes with anti-Semitic or homophobic motivation. The new rules were brought forward by the government in August in response to a deadly stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen. The suspect, a 26-year-old Syrian man with suspected links to the Islamic State group, was slated for deportation but evaded authorities' attempts to remove him. The whole package will also introduce stricter rules on the carrying of knives and gives police broader powers of investigation. While lawmakers in the Bundestag have approved the new rules, they still need to be passed by Germany's upper chamber, which will meet on Friday to decide on them. With a year to go before national elections and anti-immigration parties rising in the polls, the government has been under intense pressure to take a stricter line on immigration. The benefits restriction provoked vocal criticism from within the government - a three-way coalition between Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal FDP.
The implementation of the stricter rules marks a change in German attitudes towards immigration, almost a decade after former Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country's doors to refugees in 2015. The new German approach comes against a backdrop of hardening attitudes to immigration across Europe, where far-right parties are garnering growing support. On Thursday EU leaders called for urgent new legislation to increase the number and speed of migrant returns. It also comes after the German state of Saxony-Anhalt cut the benefits of asylum seekers who refused to pick up debris following heavy flooding in east Germany for less than a pound an hour. 64 migrants had been written to by local authorities demanding they help clear rubbish and erect dykes for a wage of just 80 cents (68p) per hour after devastating floods in the area at the end of last year which saw hundreds of residents in parts of Germany forced to evacuate. 39 people agreed to help, while the rest, who are said to be from Syria, Afghanistan, Niger, Mali and Albania, failed to turn up. As a result, the district council declared that the 15 asylum seekers who had no excuse to take part in the clean-up will have their asylum benefits cut in half to €232 (£195) a month for three months. These benefits are meant to cover basic necessities, such as food, accommodation, personal hygiene and clothing. | |
| Posted by:Skidmark |