Last year, fewer asylum applications were registered in Germany
As "Russkaya Germaniya" notes, compared to the previous year, this figure decreased by 16.5 percent, while in 2017 it was still 222,683 people. However, the final figure for last year is still higher than what the federal government of Angela Merkel had forecast.
In December 2018, an official representative of the Ministry of the Interior stated that the number of asylum applications would be around 166,000 by the end of the year. Be that as it may, the "norm" for refugees hoping to receive asylum in Germany, set at 180-220 thousand in the coalition agreement of the ruling parties CDU/CSU and SPD, remained unbreached.
According to Helmut Teichmann, State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior for Migration and Return of Refugees to their Homeland, one can already speak of a turning point in this matter. "Compared to the peak of the immigration crisis in the fall of 2015, there is currently a steady decline in the number of asylum applications," the official noted.
Mr. Teichmann believes that the main reason for this situation is the implementation of the "General Plan for Immigration," which was developed by the German authorities last year. Part of this plan is also promoting the voluntary return of rejected refugees to their homeland. But here the situation is fundamentally different.
Fewer and fewer immigrants want to take advantage of the relevant state programs and are willing to voluntarily leave the territory of the Federal Republic. According to official data, from January to November last year, only 15,089 people left Germany voluntarily, receiving financial support from the German authorities. In 2017, 29,522 people took advantage of this opportunity, and in 2016, 54,006 immigrants.
"The relatively high number of voluntary departures in 2016 must be seen in connection with the historically unprecedented number of people who were seeking protection in our country at that time," a BAMF representative admitted recently. According to the official, new state programs to promote the return of refugees to their homeland could increase the number of volunteers who want to exchange their uncertain status in Germany for their native land.