Scholz Agrees to Ease Burden on Regions From Migrant Influx
- Accord struck after talks that stretched into early morning
- Costs for states, municipalities to be trimmed by €3.5 billion
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition agreed to help ease the burden on regional and local administrations struggling to cope with rising numbers of refugees and other migrants.
After talks hosted by Scholz at the chancellery in Berlin that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday, his government said it had agreed to payments of €7,500 per asylum seeker starting next year. Together with other measures like curtailing benefit payments, that would reduce costs for Germany’s federal states and municipalities by about €3.5 billion ($3.7 billion), according to a joint statement.