According to RND, regional authorities are imposing temporary limits on newcomers
Ukrainian refugees in a sports hall repurposed as temporary accommodation on March 24, 2022, Eichenau, Germany © AFP / Christof Stache/AFP
Three quarters of German regions have told the government in Berlin that they can no longer take in Ukrainian refugees, the country’s RND media outlet has claimed.
The report, published on Saturday and citing a spokesperson for Germany’s ministry of the interior, said the number of people who have fled to the country from Ukraine since late February has now exceeded 980,000. While the influx has let up a bit lately, multiple regions have expressed concern that they could be reaching their limits in terms of migrant accommodation, the outlet alleged.
So dire is the situation, apparently, that “twelve federal states have currently activated a freeze on the initial distribution system” out of sixteen regions, the ministry’s representative revealed, as quoted by RND.
The official hastened to add, though, that the limits imposed by regional authorities are temporary and that larger regions’ doors are still open to Ukrainian refugees. She also noted that the federal government is providing some 318 pieces of property for their accommodation, along with other assistance.
Winfried Kretschmann, head of Baden-Wuerttemberg, is quoted by RND as having said ten days ago: “We already have more refugees than in the refugee crisis in 2015. The population must be prepared that we will find ourselves in difficult situations again.” The official added that sports halls could once again be converted into emergency shelters.
Armin Schuster, interior minister of Saxony, in turn, reportedly wrote a letter to his federal colleague, Nancy Faeser, warning that local communities are having difficulties integrating the newcomers.
According to newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, several municipalities in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia have stopped taking in any more migrants as their shelters have been filled to capacity.
The situation in Bavaria is also serious, as local interior minister Joachim Herrmann told RND. So far, however, the southern German region is still capable of receiving more migrants.
The official lamented that while the federal government takes on additional responsibilities to welcome yet more migrants, “it then leaves the regions alone to accomplish the task.”
