efms Migration Report
April 1996 |  | | | |
 Despite EU guidelines low-wage competition cannot be opposed
The EU has agreed to binding minimum regulations for workers in order to curb cheap-labor competition through alien construction workers. For the time being the EU guidlines have few practical consequences for the German construction industry since there are no legal minimum wages in Germany; nor does the EU require introducing minimum wages.
SZ 1.4.96 // SZ 2.4.96
Cooperation with Poland against border criminality It is hoped that talks between Germany and Poland will lead to improved cooperation in combatting border criminality. According to data from the federal interior ministry, the number of Schlepper arrested on the German-Polish border rose sharply between 1991 (619) and 1995 (1,053). In 1995 24,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended. Due to insufficient guarantees for data protection, the federal justice ministry has raised objections to the cooperation agreements entered into by the interior ministry
with
Eastern European states. In addition to the agreement in operation between Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, contracts have been signed with Russia, Romania and the Ukraine.
Welt 11.4.96 // FR 15.4.96
Charges against FIS functionaries in Germany Four Algerians, including two sons of Islamist leader Abassi, are being brought to court in Germany on charges of operating in Germany as functionaries of the extremist Algerian Salvation Front (FIS). Their illegal activities include smuggling weapons and explosives to Algeria and forging documents.
FR 11.4.96 // taz 11.4.96
Illegal aliens entitled to shelter The administrative court of Baden-Württemberg has ruled that municipal authorities are obliged to give shelter to every homeless person, even when the person in question is an alien living illegally in Germany.
FR 12.4.96
Difficulties in enforcing repatriation agreement with Vietnam The German-Vietnamese agreement providing for the repatriation of 40,000 Vietnamese is being implemented very slowly due to the drawn-out bureaucratic processes of the Vietnamese authorities. Although Germany has committed itself to payments in the millions, only 61 persons, all convicted offenders, have arrived in Vietnam. 2,500 Vietnamese were to have been repatriated in 1995 and 5,000 in 1996.
SZ 2.4.96 // Spiegel 29.4.96
Statistics: fewer deportations by airplane The federal government has stated that 30,252 refugees were flown back to their countries of origin in 1995. This is one third less than in 1994 (44,066 persons).
NN 12.4.96
Statistics: Aussiedler entries decline In the first three months of this year 40,944 immigrants of German extraction (Aussiedler) came to Germany from Eastern Europe. The number has decreased by 5,520 from the previous year. There were also 5,151 fewer petitions for admission. The commissioner for Ausiedler of the federal government, Waffenschmid (CDU) estimates that there will be fewer entries in 1996. The government sees the requirement for proof of knowledge of German before leaving the home country as the reason for this reduction. Germany
ensures that more German courses are offered and that language examinations are carried out in Eastern Europe.
FR 2.4.96 // SZ 2.4.96
Statistics: foreigners achieve higher qualifications According to data from the federal office of statistics there has been an increase in the percentage of young foreigners obtaining school-leaving examinations which qualify for university studies. From 6.4% in 1978, the number rose to 9.6% in 1994. At the same time, there was an increase in students receiving diplomas from the Realschule (a non college-prep secondary school) from 23.8% in 1987 to 26.5% in 1994. Correspondingly, the percentage of foreigners completing the Hauptschule (the secondary
school
with the lowest academic standards) was reduced to 43.5%. However, 20.4% of foreign pupils left the Hauptschule without a diploma (23,3% in 1987).
FAZ 27.4.96
Asylum statistics In April 9,458 refugees in Germany applied for asylum. The increase of 340 petitions in comparison to March is due to the increased flow of refugees from the federal republic of Yugoslavia (1,860 applicants) 2,117 refugees originate from the area of former Yugoslavia; 1,733 come from Turkey. In all, 39,716 petitions were made in the first 4 months of this year, which is a reduction of 711 compared with the same period last year.
SZ 7.5.96
April 1996 | | | | |
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