Germany plans to limit influx Ukrainian refugees

Germany is seeking to establish an EU-wide migrant sharing mechanism in a bid to check the flow of Ukrainian refugees, Die Welt has reported, citing an Interior Ministry spokesperson. The media outlet suggested that the considerably higher number of Ukrainians heading to Germany owes in part to the generous benefits provided to newcomers in the country.

According to data from the EU’s statistical agency, Eurostat, which Die Welt cited in its latest report, as of March 2024 approximately 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees were residing in Germany. Poland has the next highest amount at 960,000, followed by the Czech Republic with an estimated 360,000. Numbers in other member states are far lower, the media outlet pointed out. It also alleged that while the number of Ukrainian nationals in Poland has been steadily decreasing recently, the corresponding figure in neighboring Germany has risen.

In its article on Friday, Die Welt quoted an Interior Ministry representative as saying that Germany “strongly supports a solidarity distribution [mechanism] for refugees and believes that [the issue] of secondary migration within the EU should be addressed and resolved in particular.”

Ukrainian nationals are currently free to choose their destination within the EU, and can apply for asylum in one nation and then relocate to another later.