Germany to lower welfare payments to Ukrainian refugees

MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) - Ukrainians in Germany will soon stop receiving the Buergergeld unemployment payment, which totals 563 euros per month, Ukrainian media cited German Finance Minister Christian Lindner's remarks as carried by the Bild newspaper.

Lindner also proposed reevaluating such welfare payments in general.

"We should consider a separate legal status for refugees from Ukraine. Ukrainians [...] should not [...] immediately qualify for the welfare benefit, which is intended to cover minimum social and economic needs and allow even unemployed people to participate in society's life," Lindner told the Wirtschaftswoche media outlet.

Instead, he proposed offering Ukrainians benefits more aligned with those received by other refugees. These payments currently stand at 460 euros per month, less than the Buergergeld benefit. Same as previously, Ukrainians will not have to undergo the routine procedure for receiving asylum in Germany, but they will not automatically qualify for the Buergergeld, he said.

Germany is home to around 1.2 million Ukrainians today. According to Bild, 65% of them receive the Buergergeld, which is considerably more than the number of refugees from other countries entitled to this payment.

At a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also proposed amending the mechanism of social payments to Ukrainian refugees. Sikorski said in an interview with TVP Info following the visit to Germany that he had come up with an initiative to redirect the welfare money currently received by Ukrainian refugees in Germany to support Ukraine itself.