- Migrants were required to clear flood debris for less than a pound an hour.
The state of Saxony-Anhalt has cut benefits to less than £1 an hour for asylum seekers who refused to clear debris after heavy flooding in eastern Germany.
Local authorities have written to 64 migrants demanding they help clear rubbish and build dikes for wages of just 80 cents (68 pence) an hour after devastating floods in the area late last year forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents in parts of Germany.
39 people agreed to help, while the rest, who were believed to have come from Syria, Afghanistan, Niger, Mali and Albania, did not appear.
The district council has said the asylum benefits of the 15 asylum seekers who had no excuse for taking part in the clean-up will be halved to €232 (£195) a month for three months.
These benefits are intended to cover basic needs such as food, housing, personal hygiene and clothing.
Ukrainian refugees queue for food at the welcome area after their arrival at the main train station in Berlin, Germany, March 8, 2022
The state of Saxony-Anhalt has cut benefits to asylum seekers who refused to clear debris after heavy flooding in eastern Germany. Pictured: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke walk along a dike made of sandbags during their visit to Sangerhausen, where a flood dike threatens to break, in eastern Germany earlier this year
District councillor Andre Schröder, a member of the Christian Democratic Party, defended the decision, saying: “Anyone who seeks our protection from other countries can be forced to perform work that serves the common good.”
According to the Asylum Seeker Benefits Act in Germany, if community service is refused without reason, the entitlement to benefits is limited.
This comes as Germany struggles to manage migration and help asylum seekers while trying to appease a growing share of voters who are drawn to right-wing politicians pushing anti-immigrant rhetoric — a stark contrast to former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-borders migration policy, through which she allowed one million refugees to enter Germany in 2015.
This divisive policy led to the entry of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) into the German parliament.
This happens just a week later Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann He said he was in favour of cutting social benefits for asylum seekers who enter Germany via another EU country.
“The Dublin system applies, according to which the member state through which a refugee has entered the EU is responsible for him, but many continue to arrive in Germany,” he explained.
Asylum seekers are already entitled to assistance in the country when they first arrive. “They cannot expect to live off the solidarity of people here if they do not want to return,” he stressed. “It is a controversial issue, no doubt, but we must continue to address these pull factors that currently attract too many people irregularly,” he added.
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