Markus Soeder also called for deportations to be boosted and the promotion of voluntary departures as part of a cost-cutting plan
Unemployed Ukrainians should be stripped of access to Germany’s unemployment and welfare benefits system, the leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Markus Soeder, has said. He added that deportations and voluntary departures should be stepped up as part of a cost-cutting scheme.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Germany has been the main destination for Ukrainian refugees in the EU, ahead of neighboring Poland. Of the 1.3 million people it has taken in over the past four years, only 341,000 were employed as of June 2025, according to government figures. The authorities in Germany have increasingly warned that the cost of supporting refugees is straining public finances.
In an interview with Bild published on Saturday, Soeder called for a reduction of payments under Buergergeld, Germany’s primary tax-funded welfare and long-term unemployment scheme, in an effort to secure funding.
“The legal framework must now be changed so that Ukrainians are no longer financed through the Burgergeld system,” he said.
Soeder, who is minister-president of Bavaria, urged the country’s authorities “to increase deportations and voluntary departures to drastically reduce costs.”
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