As reported by Russkaya Germaniya, according to the Finance Ministry's calculations, Germany will spend almost 93.6 billion euros on refugees by 2020. This year alone, nearly 16.1 billion euros will be spent for these purposes, and by 2020, these expenditures will rise to 20.4 billion euros annually.
Calculations by the federal states show even greater spending: in 2016 – 21 billion euros, and by 2020, annual expenditures could rise to as much as 30 billion euros. At the same time, the federal states assume that this year Germany will take in about 600,000 refugees, in 2017 – nearly 400,000, and in subsequent years – 300,000 each.
Meanwhile, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) expects no more than half a million new migrants this year. This was reported last week by the head of the agency, Frank-Jürgen Weise. According to the official, since the beginning of 2016, 190,000 refugees have arrived in Germany, but their number is constantly declining. For example, in April of this year, nearly 16,000 asylum seekers were registered, which is about a quarter less than in March (20,600). In February and January, these figures were 61,400 and 91,700 people, respectively.
It is expected that in 2016, BAMF employees will have to make decisions on approximately one million asylum applications. As of the beginning of May, 430,000 applications had accumulated on officials' desks, to which will be added about 300,000 applications from refugees who have already registered in Germany but have not yet applied for asylum. The remaining applications will come from migrants arriving in the country this year. The majority of refugees registered in the Federal Republic are still from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
As agency experts note, new legislative rules regarding so-called safe countries could further reduce the number of migrants, primarily from the Maghreb countries. This refers to a bill passed by the Bundestag on May 13, according to which Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia are recognized as "safe."
This is already the third legislative initiative aimed at reducing the flow of refugees to Germany. In September 2014, an initiative by Angela Merkel's government to add Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the list of "safe countries of origin" was approved. This list was then expanded to include Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro. Now the German legislature is adding three more countries.
As German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière noted, people from these countries come to Germany mainly not because of political or other persecution. That is why, according to the Interior Ministry, only 0.7% of migrants from these states received asylum in Germany in the first three months of 2016. The bill must still be approved by the Bundesrat. It is expected that this will happen in June.