The German Federal Ministry of the Interior, led by Minister Nancy Faeser, is seeking an additional 560 million euros for integration courses for refugees. According to a report by the newspaper Bild, the request is based on a letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance, signed by State Secretary Steffen Meyer, to the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag.
The letter states that the funds are needed to ensure timely payment and, in part, to continue existing integration courses. The need for the additional funds was unforeseen, Meyer wrote, as the scope of the demand for integration courses was not definitively determinable during the cabinet’s decision on the budget in July and August of the previous year.
Currently, the budget for 2025 has allocated only 500 million euros for integration courses. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group has strongly criticized the request. Christian Haase, the group’s spokesperson on budgetary matters, told Bild that the expenses for integration courses have consistently been around one billion euros per year in the past. “It appears that the members of the Budget Committee are being deliberately misled”Haase said. “The SPD-led institutions, such as the Faeser and Heil ministries, must finally stop operating with false numbers. This seems to be a method. The loss of trust is severe.