Germany will take in a record number of asylum seekers this year, which will cost 10 billion euros, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung revealed on Sunday. That’s four times as much as last year.
The increase in cost is proportionate to the number of refugees arriving in Germany: over the summer, Germany revealed 800,000 men, women and children has requested asylum in 2015, compared to 203,000 last year. Before the German government increased its budget, it had put aside 5 billion euros to accommodate 450,000 refugees during the year 2015, according to the conservative paper. The original budget was fixed during an immigration summit in July.
Due to the large increase in the number of refugees heading to Germany, the different federal, regional and local administrations have decided a budget of 10 billion euros seems “appropriate”, the paper continues.
Germany has attributed 12,000 to 13,000 euros a year to each refugee. This includes accommodation while their asylum request is processed, meals, medical care and a 143 euros a month allowance. This figure also includes half a billion euros for extra teachers, paid for by the regional authorities. The Federal Immigration and Refugee Office will take on an extra 2,000 employees, and there will be extra police (cost not given).
There will be a coalition meeting on Sunday evening, to discuss how the government and local collectives will share the costs. A decision will be made on the 24th of September at the latest, during a meeting between the government and regional authorities.
During her weekly video address, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was still aiming for a balanced budget, despite the added cost of taking in a record number of asylum seekers.
(Source: Belga)
