EU immigrants found abusing the German benefits system could be banned from re-entering the country for up to five years under a planned draft law. It comes as figures on Thursday showed migration to Germany has reached a 20-year high.
Banned benefit fraudsters caught trying to return to the country on falsified papers could also find themselves facing a prison term of up to three years, according to further measures envisaged in the draft bill which is set to be drawn up in July.
The news comes as Chancellor Angela Merkel increased the rhetoric against benefit fraud by foreigners before Germans head to the polls for the EU parliamentary elections on Sunday.
“The EU is not a social union,” Merkel told the regional Passauer Neue Presse on Thursday.
“We don’t want to pay Hartz IV to EU citizens who are just here in Germany to look for work,” she added. EU law clearly states that child benefits should also only be paid to those in work, she said. “We are working on the best way to eliminate abuse.” ……..
……………….The German Labour Ministry released figures this week showing that the state paid €1.7 billion in Hartz IV to EU citizens living in Germany last year.
Meanwhile Germany’s statistics office on Thursday put out figures showing that Germany received more new net immigrants last year than in any year since 1993.
Over 1.2 million newcomers were registered in 2013, up 13 percent on the previous year. Meanwhile 789,000 people left the country to live elsewhere; resulting in a net migration of 437,000.
Read the whole story: http://www.thelocal.de/20140522/germany-plans-to-ban-benefit-fraudsters
Source: The Local - DPA