Germany proposes to deport jobless Ukrainian refugees

Andrii Synyavskyi, Roman Petrenko — Sunday, 23 June 2024, 10:34

Alexander Dobrindt, the Chairman of the Bavarian opposition Christian Social Union (CSU) party in the German Bundestag, has called for the expulsion of unemployed Ukrainian refugees from Germany. 

Source: Dobrindt in an interview with German tabloid Bild, cited by ZDF, as reported by European Pravda 

Details: Dobrindt believes that Ukrainian refugees should be expelled from Germany if they don't get a job.

"After more than two years after the outbreak of the war, the principle should now be applied: get a job in Germany or return to the safe areas of western Ukraine," he said. 

The opposition politician also criticised the fact that too many people in Germany receive social assistance at the expense of taxpayers' money. 

"We need stronger cooperation commitments for asylum seekers when it comes to employment. There should be a job offer, and this should be part of the integration service," Dobrindt said. 

The oppositionist's demand was sharply criticised by representatives of the government coalition. Dirk Wiese, Deputy Leader of Chancellor Scholz's Social Democrats parliamentary faction, told Bild that the CSU should be ashamed of such demands and "remove the letter 'C' from its name, which stands for 'Christian', for once and for all". 

"Putin continues to bomb targets across Ukraine. Now Dobrindt also wants to send back women and children who may have already lost their parents at the front," he said. 

Meanwhile, Omid Nouripour, leader of the Green Party, which is also part of the government coalition, also criticised Dobrindt's proposal. 

"Insinuations that Ukrainians come to us for social assistance do not recognise the horror of Putin's war," he said. 

Earlier, it was reported that the Jobturbo programme for the accelerated integration of Ukrainians into the German labour market managed to attract about 33,000 people, six times less than the German government expected. 

German Federal Minister of Labour Hubertus Heil called on employers to hire Ukrainian refugees who have not yet mastered the German language at the proper level but have basic knowledge of it. 

Background:

The day before, a number of politicians in Germany called for the cancellation of standard unemployment benefits for Ukrainian refugees in the country, the so-called "money for citizens" (Bürgergeld).

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