By Gunnar Schupelius
The emergency accommodation inevitably becomes a permanent solution because Berlin is overcrowded. This development is not only incredibly expensive, but also dangerous, says Gunnar Schupelius.
Around 200 migrants arrive in Berlin every day and apply for asylum, twice as many as in September. All accommodation is occupied, so hotels are rented and the former Tegel and Tempelhof airports are converted into emergency accommodation.
According to the Senate, space in a rented hotel costs an average of 57 euros per person per day.
The Tegel tent camp costs 40 (!) million euros per month and 7,600 beds are set up here. 5,500 places are planned in Tempelhof. On Friday, 600 young men traveling alone moved into Hangar 1. They mainly come from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Moldova and Turkey.
Governing Mayor Wegner (CDU) promised in September: “Everyone who comes to this city should have a roof over their head.” But that is not possible when 200 people arrive here every day.
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) Photo: dpa
In the Tempelhof hangar there are living containers measuring twelve square meters for four people; each resident has three square meters of living space available. The sanitary facilities are located outside the hangar. You can’t live like this permanently.
But where are the 600 men traveling alone from Hangar 1 supposed to live permanently? There are no other accommodations and certainly no apartments for them. What are you going to do? Where will they look for connection? And how will your relationship with the Jewish population in Berlin develop?
New York Mayor Eric Adams (Democrat) said in September about migration: “This problem will destroy New York City.”
Kai Wegner didn’t say that. He is far from saying that. But isn’t the situation in Berlin quite similar to what Adams describes in New York? Finding the right words is the beginning. The Berlin Senate can’t even do that.
On the contrary: Social Senator Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD) spoke out against the Chancellor’s announcement that more rejected asylum seekers would be deported in the future.
She said on Friday that these were “symbolic discussions and quick fixes” that had no effect on the matter.
But she also made no counter-proposal. She, who announced in the summer that Berlin was overcrowded, puts her hands in her lap and watches as the former airports fill with people for whom Berlin has no room.
At the beginning of September, the SPD state executive committee turned against the “isolation of Europe” and refugees should not be turned away. The Senate is also still a member of the “Safe Havens Cities Alliance”, which advocates for even more immigration.
The governing mayor puts the cost of refugees in the city at one billion euros per year – money that Berlin doesn’t even have. The integration of foreigners is becoming increasingly difficult. Anyone who does not speak out loudly and effectively against uncontrolled immigration is acting completely irresponsibly.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153, or email: [email protected]
Read all of Gunnar Schupelius’s columns here