Recently German tabloid Bild and British newspaper The Sun wrote that a Syrian migrant fled to Germany with his for wives and 23 children. Referring to some online blog on the site of German Employers' Associations, The Sun claims that the refugee’s family gets benefits of 30,000 euros a month.
“The migrants’ status has already changed. Now they have a residence permit and get unemployment benefit from a job center. So, now it is up to the job center to decide what kind of job they are ready to entrust to the immigrants, and whether they have any vacancies at all,” Edmund Schaaf told Sputnik.
“According to German legislature, after that a refugee has to accept the job offer, or his benefits will be reduced. However this decision is up to job center,” Schaaf specified.
As personal data cannot be disclosed, the center cannot give out any personal information on a particular migrant. But the Internet can give a general idea of the sums involved. At HartzIV.org requirements of adult partners in a ‘needy group’ are estimated to be €364 a month, while children in the same category can receive up to €270 a month.
According to the law on relief of refugees, the head of a ‘needy group’ can claim even more.
“This rule scheme is applied to all migrants, regardless of whether they were a family before they came to Germany or not. Each individual person, including children, is due to a certain sum of money. And the sum mentioned (30,000 eur) looks unrealistic. I think, any check would confirm that. This figure was simply pulled out of a hat,” Schaaf said.
The mayor also mentioned an article that the German newspaper Rhein-Zeitung published in August. The outlet reported that migrant boys were stopping their sisters from going to local schools and even kindergartens.
“Currently I have no information about any serious problems in our area,” Schaaf added.