Overview
- On November 19, the cabinet backed amendments removing Ukrainians arriving after April 1, 2025 from Bürgergeld and placing them on lower asylum‑seeker support, where adults receive about €441 a month versus up to €563 under Bürgergeld, with housing and heating still covered.
- Merz called the sub‑30% employment rate among Ukrainians in Germany unacceptable and argued the change will raise incentives to enter the labor market, contrasting Poland at roughly 70% and the Czech Republic near 60%.
- He reported a year‑on‑year drop of more than 60% in primary asylum applications from September 2024 to September 2025, crediting tighter checks at Germany’s land borders.
- Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has revoked a 2015 order that let asylum seekers enter and reintroduced turnbacks for those who applied in other EU states, with exemptions for pregnant women, children and other vulnerable people, while boosting federal police checks.
- Officials cite fiscal pressure as Bürgergeld outlays climbed to nearly €47 billion in 2024, including about €6.4 billion for Ukrainian recipients, as Germany hosts roughly 1.1 million Ukrainians, and AfD co‑leader Alice Weidel dismissed the reform as insufficient.