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Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD): "There was agreement on the introduction of a breathing system for all refugees."
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil (SPD), does not consider the work of the federal-state working group on the costs of accommodating refugees to be a failure. The group had "lived up to its mission in one essential point," the SPD politician told SPIEGEL. There was agreement on the introduction of a breathing system for all refugees.«
According to Weil, they had agreed on a capitation fee as the basis, but the amount was disputed until the end, so that there was no final result. "This means that the talks have been conducted as far as possible at this level," says Weil. Now, in preparation for the joint meeting of the Conference of Minister-Presidents with the Federal Chancellor on 6 November, further negotiations must be held between the political leaders. "The fact is that there must be a significant and reliable contribution from the federal government to the refugee costs."
On Tuesday, the negotiations between the federal government and the states on the costs of accommodating refugees ended without result. The federal government, according to the accusation, announced to the states in a video conference on Monday a significant reduction in federal aid for refugee costs in 2024, instead of 3.75 billion euros as in 2023, the government only wants to inject a maximum of 2024.1 billion euros into states and municipalities in 7.
In view of the increasing number of refugees and the burdens on the municipalities, this was met with great incomprehension by the federal states. Especially since the federal government's contribution to the costs of states, cities and municipalities for the integration, schooling and care of Ukrainian refugees is to be completely eliminated.
CTE/MGO