The head of the German opposition has claimed that a number of migrants from Ukraine are engaging in so-called “welfare tourism” in his country.
Friedrich Merz, the chairman of the centrist Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and head of the opposition in the Bundestag has claimed that a large number of migrants from Ukraine are engaging in so-called “welfare tourism” in Germany.
The politician has already apologised for causing offence with his use of the term, but has so far not appeared to roll back his central claim.
In an interview with Bild, Merz believes that a significant proportion of the 1.1 million migrants in Germany ostensibly fleeing the Ukraine war are abusing Germany’s generous benefits system, with the politician accusing arrivals of bouncing to and from the war-torn country to collect payments.
“We are now experiencing welfare tourism from these refugees [who go] to Germany, back to the Ukraine, to Germany, back to the Ukraine,” he told the news agency.
Merz now said that the leftist government’s overly generous approach to migrants ostensibly from the country risked increasing the number of migrants coming to Germany, especially if the country starts accepting Russian draft dodgers as asylum seekers.
As a result of the leftist government’s open borders policy regarding the crisis, Germany has already seen its population soar to an all-time record of 84 million as a result of the influx of refugees.
With Merz’s statement being an uncharacteristic defence of border control in Germany from the centrist party, it is perhaps unsurprising that the CDU boss was quick to walk back his statement, apologising online about his use of the term “welfare tourism” after the likes of Antifa-linked interior minister Nancy Faeser became enraged at the official.
However, Merz’s general sentiment appears likely to be more in line with the view of a growing number of Germans, with polling showing a growing number of people in the country voting for parties on the right, with the populist Alternative für Deutschland gaining substantially in the polls over recent weeks.
Those within Merz’s own party have also become more and more critical of the country’s immigration regime, with his own deputy, Andrea Lindholz demanding action from the German government to reduce the number of migrants being smuggled into the country.
“Increasing [numbers of migrants] are bringing more and more municipalities to their limit,” the politician wrote online.
“The first emergency shelters have already had to close due to overcrowding,” she continued. “The federal government must react, strengthen the protection of the EU’s external borders with the Schengen partners and stop illegal smuggling from Turkey.”
Such a move from the country’s far-left government is ultimately unlikely however, with officials instead saying that they want even more migrants to come to the country to fill vacant positions in businesses in a desperate attempt to boost the economy.
However, with the possibility of rolling blackouts across the country being on the cards as a result of the ongoing energy crisis, it is unclear how the government expects such businesses to operate over the winter months, let alone how it expects to keep any new arrivals warm with the availability of gas already being stretched thin in the country.