Germany to limit EU inmigration

[gangleri2001]

Do you people remember this?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-Europe-with-call-for-immigration-limits.html

Well, it looks like now they say this:

German panel lays down restrictions on EU immigrants

As German cities struggle with the effects of rising immigration, a committee appointed by the Merkel government released an interim report recommending limits to residency rights for job-seekers from EU member states. EurActiv Germany reports.

Immigration from other European states to Germany has increased in recent years, according to a report approved by the German government on Wednesday (26 March).

"That is good news for our country", explained Federal Minister of Internal Affairs Thomas de Maizière at the presentation of the interim report in Berlin.

The document was tabled by a special committee assigned by the German government to assess legal matters and challenges concerning immigrants from within the EU.

Although immigrants contribute to prosperity and development in Germany, Maizière said, "on the other hand, we should not turn a blind eye to the fact that there are also problems related to immigration."

In many municipalities, the trend has intensified social problems and placed a growing burden on community service systems. Areas like schooling, housing, sheltering the homeless and healthcare are particularly affected.

Information from the German Federal Statistical Office shows that most immigrants come from Poland. Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria follow by a significant margin in second, in third and fourth place respectively. Immigration from Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal has also increased.

Nevertheless, immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania have been the subject of public debate, ever since the EU extended freedom of labour movement to these two member states.

"From a national perspective, the number of immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania is reasonable and manageable, but regionally it is alarming," the internal affairs minister said, adding: "It is right for us to confront this now, so the Federal Republic does not sustain significant damage."

The committee also proposed providing communities with €200 million in financial assistance over four years to help them deal with migration. The committee dealt primarily with the situation in municipalities hosting a disproportionately high number of immigrants from EU countries. Such municipalities lack apartments and sufficient housing facilities for the homeless.

But shortages in education for immigrants are also a significant problem. In this case, it is difficult to integrate them through training programmes and employment. Children do not attend school because they lack sufficient German language skills. Many immigrants do not have health insurance, but require urgent medical care.

The state secretarial committee proposed various measures to tackle the misuse of free movement rights. Re-entry restrictions are planned.

Further restrictions have also been proposed regarding the right of residence while searching for a job. Time limits of three and six months are being considered, the interim report said.

The committee hopes to cut-down on bogus self-employment and moonlighting through various changes to commercial law. Legal adjustments in family services and child benefits seek to impede potential abuse.

Source: http://www.euractiv.com/sections/so...l-lays-down-restrictions-eu-immigrants-301168

Hopefully this is the begining of the end of the EU. Welcome Germany to the struggle against a more "integrated" Europe. Fight the EU!

 

[Gigaz]

This opening post seems kind of misleading to me.
The aformentioned report explains mostly the benefits of immigration and the German press mostly received it as proof that abuse by people from poorer countries has been strongly exaggerated by a number of conservative politicians.

 

[bugwar]

From the article:

A government panel has recommended that Germany screen job-seekers from other European Union states for "welfare tourists" and people not qualified for employment and then expel benefit fraudsters and block their return for a fixed period.
With some German cities complaining that their health services and welfare workers are already unable to cope with the number of unemployed eastern Europeans, in January, Angela Merkel's government set up a panel to look into how to avoid such abuse.
...
Late last year, the mayors of 16 cities such as Cologne, Hanover and Dortmund made a public plea for help in coping with unemployed immigrants from Eastern Europe, many of whom are from the Roma minority.
...
The conservative-run interior ministry and SPD-run labour ministry co-chair the panel of the top civil servants from 11 ministries, ensuring balance between the two forces in Merkel's "grand coalition", which will be 100 days old on Wednesday.
It proposes limiting job-seekers' stay to three months if they don't find work, expelling those who commit benefit fraud, blocking their return for a certain period, and imposing closer bureaucratic controls on those seeking benefits.
Police and employment offices should prosecute firms who use unregistered workers, and the government should give €200 million to alleviate social problems in the worst-affected cities, the panel recommended.

Source: http://www.euractiv.com/sections/so...s-tighter-controls-eu-welfare-tourists-301114