The Left Party of Germany (Die Linke) proposes to revise the Dublin agreements, under which a migrant entering the territory of the European Union can be registered exclusively in the country of the first border crossing. According to the left, which they reflected in their electoral program, the refugees themselves must choose where to stay. It is obvious that migrants, as a rule, prefer Germany. Moreover, even those refugees who do not have enough legal grounds to stay in the country, still do not want to return home from Germany. A particular problem is with immigrants from Syria, the country is still unsafe. Moreover, against this background, an increase in anti-migrant sentiments is observed among German citizens.
According to the German government, this year only 77 migrants from Syria have applied for financial support to return home. Such assistance is provided by the German authorities to those who voluntarily decide to leave Germany and return to their homeland. It includes payment of tickets and 200 euros for unforeseen expenses per person. This also provides for a “lifting amount” of 1,000 euros per adult and 500 euros per child. The maximum amount for a family is 3,500 euros, and in the event that departure is planned in advance, another 500 euros will be added before the completion of the refugee status registration procedure.
And yet, migrants are not very actively using this support, as returning to Syria can still carry serious risks. The government of Germany has not yet recognized this country as safe, and international human rights organizations also urge to refrain from forced deportations of people.
However, it seems that even the removal of the status of an unsafe country will slightly increase the flow of Syrians returning home. They prefer to be fixed in Germany, to receive the official status of a migrant, implying the payment of benefits comparable to unemployment benefits for German citizens. Those who, for a number of reasons, cannot acquire official status, try to extend their time in the Federal Republic of Germany by all means – they lose their documents and escape from the camps. As noted in the German media, it even reaches extremes: documents and stamps disappear from the city offices of the migrant affairs department – there are already two such cases in Berlin, one of which happened just a few days ago.
At the same time, according to the Bundesbank (German central bank), remittances to Syria from Germany increased 10 times – over the past year the Syrians transferred about 200 million euros to their homeland, a significant part of which is obviously migrant benefits. Recall that according to the Federal Labor Agency, 57% of migrants are unemployed.
At the same time, anti-migrant sentiments are gaining strength among German citizens. This is confirmed by the latest sociological survey, carried out with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, close to the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Such a survey is conducted every two years and measures the level of extremist sentiment in society. According to the latest data, in February 2019, 54.1% of the citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany belong to the IDPs with a prejudice – more than every second.
Since the beginning of the conflict, about six million people have left Syria, according to official data, about a million of them have now settled in Germany. In the meantime, according to the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, another wave of influx of migrants comparable with 2015, the German economy may not withstand. Taking into account all the above factors, the desire of the Left Party to give migrants the opportunity to choose their country of entry will not have support either in political circles or in society. However, the FRG does not have an unambiguous answer to how to solve the migration problem, which seems to be one of the main domestic political and economic challenges for the coming years.