German labour minister takes stock five years after refugee crisis

Berlin (dpa) – Germany is better prepared today to deal with migrants than it was five years ago, when Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country’s borders at the height of Europe’s refugee crisis, a government minister told dpa.

“We are better organized today than [we were] in 2015,” said Labour Minister Hubertus Heil, a member of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), which form a broad coalition with Merkel’s conservatives.

He pointed out a raft of migration laws passed in June 2019 designed to clarify the legal basis of migration and asylum cases, while also boosting integration measures such as language courses and support for refugees in finding work.

The legislation also seeks to toughen up the deportation process.

On August 31, 2015, Merkel ushered in her open-door refugee policy for Syrians fleeing war by suspending the rules dictating that their asylum bids had to be placed in the first EU country of entry.

Her phrase “Wir schaffen das” – which translates as “we can do it” or “we will manage” – came to define her liberal migration stance at the time – a policy that would put its stamp on German politics for years to come.

At the time, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was not yet represented in the country’s federal parliament; Now it is the largest opposition force, having exploited anti-migrant sentiment and criticism of Merkel’s liberal migration policy, which the chancellor herself has since toughened.

Heil acknowledged that the 2015 crisis year, during which hundreds of thousands of migrants came to Germany, had also boosted right-wing populism.

But he said that most people in the country had responded sensibly and with a sense of humanity.

“It is good that people in Germany can approach a subject like migration without fear, and also without reverie,” the minister said.

“It has now been five years since a broad societal debate on refugees took place in Germany,” he added, pointing out that the job market has contributed a lot to integrating the newcomers since then.

Heil said “350,000 people from the most notable refugee countries have stayed with us permanently and are firmly anchored in the labour market – incidentally, often in so-called system-relevant professions, in the field of care, as well as logistics, retail and many other areas.”

However, the coronavirus pandemic could threaten this progress.

Unemployment across Germany rose by 22 per cent in June compared to March.

Among people who come from crisis-hit countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and others, the rise was 26 per cent, Daniel Terzenbach, who sits on the Federal Employment Agency’s board, told dpa.

“No formal qualifications and poor language skills – when these two qualities are combined, this in particular leads more often to job losses,” Terzenbach said.