After the federal cabinet imposed a stop on admissions to voluntary integration courses, members of the left‑wing faction in the Bundestag warn that many courses may have to be cut entirely.
Course providers nationwide have reported 72 000 open places that are due to begin within the next three months. This comes from a response by the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a request by Clara Bünger, a left‑wing Bundestag MP, as reported by the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”.
In 2025, out of 307 000 new participants, only 55 % were admitted under the available spots. By the end of February 2026, total admissions had fallen to just 589, primarily for asylum seekers, non‑German EU citizens, and Ukrainian war refugees.
The government’s answer also revealed that the federal integration commissioner, Natalie Pawlik (SPD), was not consulted. “The decision was made in an internal bureaucratic decision‑making process by the federal Minister of the Interior” the response said-implying that Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) acted alone.
Bünger, the parliamentary spokesperson on asylum policy for the left faction, called the admission halt an “integration catastrophe”. She told RND that people are being doomed to inactivity and shunted aside, that job entry is severely hindered, and that the proven language‑course system is put at risk. The short‑term budget cuts, she warned, will generate massive downstream costs. “This is policy that should not exist: exclusionary, foolish and destructive” she added.
Bünger described the lack of Pawlik’s involvement as a “brackish treatment of the integration commissioner”. Pawlik had already criticized the decision as “wrong” saying that it undermines proven practices in Germany that have worked for over two decades.
She further told RND that Dobrindt pursues a self‑sealing policy devoid of sense and reason, a policy that seriously jeopardises the good integration of people coming to Germany.
