Germany: Welfare benefits for asylum seekers to be reduced in 2025

Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner has told a German newspaper he will be reducing the amount of welfare benefits asylum seekers receive from the start of next year. He and his party colleagues say they are worried that social welfare benefits are having a “magnetizing effect” on the decision of asylum seekers and migrants to cross Europe to settle in Germany.

Germany is in the middle of Europe and is, because of its geographic position, not a natural first-arrival country for asylum seekers. Yet the number of people making their way from countries like Greece and sometimes Italy to settle in Germany is becoming more than the German authorities want to handle.

“We have already achieved quite a few things in terms of asylum policy,” conceded Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner in an interview with the German regional newspaper Rheinsische Post on Thursday (September 19), citing examples such as the payment card for asylum seekers, the reduction of benefits for so-called Dublin cases, and the implementation of German border checks.

However, the minister hopes to make the policy even stricter and has proposed a debate on the subject in the German parliament. “We really need to discuss everything, including what kind of magnet effect German welfare benefits are having for migrants,” commented Lindner’s fellow FDP party member Marco Buschmann, who is also Germany’s Justice Minister.

Also read: Bavarian court orders alternatives to payment cards

Welfare benefit cuts in 2025

According to the minister, reductions of asylum seeker benefits are already in the pipeline. At the beginning of 2025, the basic welfare benefits available to asylum seekers will be reduced slightly because inflation has proved to be lower than expected, reported the German press agency dpa. Each person gets different amounts, depending on their personal circumstances and how many dependents they may have or not, but the payments will be reduced by between 13 and 19 euros a month.

That would mean that a single asylum seeker with no dependents could expect to receive not more than 460 euros per month. For those who are still living in a reception center, where they have a bed, meals and clothing provided, they would receive 164 euros a month for personal expenses, like public transport, entertainment and mobile phone costs.

Even asylum seekers who are married or have children will see a reduction in the benefits they receive, starting next year, reported the public broadcaster ZDF.

Also read: Germany wants to cut benefits for refugees

Quickly rolling out EU asylum reforms

The German government is also working hard to roll out the new EU reforms as quickly as possible. The reforms must be implemented by 2026, according to the EU, but Germany wants to begin more quickly. The increased controls at the German border are just one example, explained the parliamentary leader for the social democrats (SPD), one of the ruling coalition parties.

Dirk Wiese from the SPD called the EU reforms “a true milestone” in helping the EU better protect its external borders.

FDP colleagues, also part of the ruling coalition, appear to agree. The head of the FDP parliamentary party Christian Dürr told the Rheinische Post that he believed “the European asylum measures need to be implemented as soon as possible in Germany.”

The opposition Conservatives suggested the government could also quickly implement new rules at German airports.

If someone arrives at the airport without the correct documents or passport and is from a country listed as “safe” by Germany, they can be sent back immediately. Alexander Throm, the CDU/CSU faction’s spokesperson for interior policy, said he believes Interior Minister Nancy Faeser could change the law quickly to make that happen if she wanted to.

Also read: The new EU asylum and migration pact, your questions answered

Solidarity mechanism

Once the EU reforms are implemented across the bloc, there should be a new “solidarity mechanism” in place that would mean asylum seekers arriving in countries like Italy, Greece and Spain would and could be shared out in different countries across the bloc.

According to the new laws, potential asylum seekers coming from so-called safe countries could have their claims processed at the EU’s external borders. If they did come from a country deemed safe, they would be expected to be sent back relatively quickly.

However, migration experts like Gerald Knaus question how practical some of the EU’s new laws would be. Knaus told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) that he couldn’t see it working. “Should we be expecting people to be sent back along thousands of kilometers of ‘green borders’ in forests and through the countryside?” asked Knaus. “Whoever is sent back at one point on that border, will just try again at another point.”

Knaus believes efforts would be better spent on giving protection to those who really need it and processing claims of others so quickly that they don’t have a chance to enter a country and claim benefits, reported the German news magazine Der Spiegel.

Also read: German government to continue welfare support to Ukrainians

Around 3.5 million asylum seekers living in Germany

Knaus points to the success of this type of policy in Austria, where asylum claims are processed more quickly.

The number of refugees and asylum seekers now living in Germany has hit 3.5 million, reported the German authorities. According to the central foreigner’s register (Ausländerzentralregister), in the first half of 2024, there were about 3.48 million refugees and asylum seekers living in the country, reported another German regional newspaper, Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.

The number includes all those who have applied for humanitarian protection in Germany, irrespective of their residency permits or right to remain. About 1.18 million of these people come from Ukraine.

With dpa