Günter Krings, the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, suggests that Germany should introduce additional measures to encourage Syrian refugees residing in the country to return home. Speaking to the news magazine Focus, Krings proposed that for individuals who do not hold permanent residence permits, the use of prepaid cards should be increased in place of cash payments. However, he stressed that when cutting social benefits, the German Federal Constitutional Court’s rulings regarding the minimum subsistence level must be adhered to.
The CDU politician emphasized the urgent need for the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees to begin revoking Syrian protection statuses promptly. He stated, “Once many people are obliged to leave, we can switch to in-kind benefits, such as a prepaid card, for this group.”
Krings also pointed to what he termed a “flaw in our asylum system.” The former Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Interior Ministry noted that European law mandates that every residence permit must be revoked individually. While Germany granted temporary protection to hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing war, Krings argued that since the war has ended, the authorities are still obligated to re-evaluate every single protection status. He suggested that a more logical approach would be for residence permits to expire automatically when the basis for the flight ceases to exist.
The CDU representative viewed the abolition of subsidiary protection as “highly understandable.” In his opinion, the status has been so widely extended by the courts that there is no alternative path remaining for the government. Instead, he proposed that subsidiary protection be replaced by a temporary protection status that only exists for the duration of a civil war and automatically lapses once the government determines that the reason for the protection has ended.
Currently, approximately 930,000 Syrians live in Germany. Of this total, over 500,000 hold temporary residence permits granted as refugees, with nearly 300,000 benefiting from subsidiary protection.
