Almost half of German citizens believe that immigration has a negative impact on their country according to the latest poll by the sociological institute YouGov.
The poll was conducted from December 2 to 6 and included 2016 participants.
According to the survey:
47% of respondents believe that immigration mainly has a negative impact on Germany, while only 29% considered the impact of immigration to be positive;
44% believe that the federal government should tighten immigration regulations and only 20% are in favor of simplifying them;
28% think everything should be left as it is;
61% of respondents described federal policies on migration and immigration as bad (28% as very bad);
27% gave a positive assessment of the authorities' actions in this field.
Manfred Weber, head of the European People's Party (EPP), a leading faction in the European Parliament, predicted recently that "Europe, mainly Germany, would be hit by a new wave of refugees this winter."
He also claimed that Germany is not prepared for such a situation:
"Germany is now moving towards a new migration crisis as if in a dream."
The German Interior Ministry pointed out that this year, authorities have already allocated €3.5 billion to Länder and municipalities to receive and accommodate migrants, with another €2.75 billion to be provided in 2023.
Earlier, Christian Dürr, leader of the FDP faction in the Bundestag, said that the shortage of skilled workers in Germany was so severe that the number of foreign workers employed would have to increase to 400,000 annually.
Media previously reported that the Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser (SPD) wanted to create the conditions for the naturalization of foreigners in the Federal Republic of Germany much easier. In particular, the current naturalization period for foreigners is considered to be shortened from eight to five years. This period could even be reduced to three years in special cases. At the same time, abolishing the compulsory renunciation of a foreigner's existing nationality was discussed.