German cities struggling with winter influx of Western Balkan migrants

This winter, cities in Germany confronted one more inflow of refugees however this time it was not Ukrainians fleeing struggle however folks from Western Balkan international locations searching for to flee their international locations’ harsh winters and poor social residing situations.

Cologne has, as an illustration, recorded extra migrants from the Western Balkans in current months than through the Yugoslav Wars that occurred from 1991 to 2001, in response to the western metropolis’s press officer, Katja Reuter.

“The variety of folks from the West Balkans in Cologne metropolis housing is over 1,000. On account of fluctuation, a extra precise quantity shouldn’t be obtainable.

“Round 40 p.c of the refugees come from Ukraine, and the opposite nationalities are properly over 60 p.c. The vast majority of them come from Albania,” mentioned Reuter.

Now, the town has reached its official capability of what number of refugees it could absorb, having an overachievement reception charge of 107.23 p.c.

Western Balkan route

The Western Balkan route was, in 2022, essentially the most used for unlawful border crossings into the EU, in response to the bloc’s exterior border company. Frontex recorded 145,600 unlawful crossings by way of the Western Balkan, a 136% bounce from the earlier 12 months and the best quantity noticed since 2015.

This route was utilized by a wide range of nationalities with residents from Syria, Afghanistan and Türkiye accounting for the biggest variety of detections.

Now, the EU has determined to step up its presence on the Western Balkan borders with Frontex to quickly deploy workers there — which would be the first time the company may have staff monitoring non-EU borders — to curb unlawful migration.

Cologne doesn’t give migrants from the Balkans refugee standing till they obtain authorized asylum standing from Germany’s immigration authorities, which might usually take months to years to realize. Nevertheless it continues to deal with these coming to the town to fight homelessness.

“The town of Cologne is obligated to deal with all refugees regardless of which nationality or origin. The occupancy administration organises metropolis housing in response to the obtainable housing assets,” mentioned Reuter.

“On account of this technique, more often than not, refugees from completely different origins or nationalities are housed collectively. When lodging are majorly stuffed with refugees from the identical nation of origin, this is because of housing calls for of the individuals in want of lodging or the variety of newly arrived refugees.

“Subsequently, there are each refugees from Ukraine who’re being housed with different nationalities in addition to people who share their lodging solely with compatriots,” she added.

North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Serbia

Cologne’s silver lining got here when their fall prediction — that there can be a brand new inflow of Ukrainian refugees due to Russian assaults on the nation’s vital infrastructure — didn’t happen. At present, they solely have round two to 4 Ukrainian refugees coming to the town every day.

This has helped the town cope all through winter, as they anticipate spring will see migrants from the Western Balkans go away.

“Due to the poor social situations within the international locations of origin, [for example] costly heating materials, folks from the Western Balkans go to Germany in winter after which return in spring. That is repeated yearly,” Reuter mentioned.

“As many cities or communes in Germany, it’s difficult to deal with refugees. In cities like Cologne, many individuals – not solely refugees – are on the lookout for reasonably priced flats and such. It’s difficult to supply sufficient room for refugees,” she added.

Higher Bavaria, the place Munich is the capital metropolis, is at present housing 850 migrants from the Western Balkans — practically double final 12 months’s quantity — although the whole variety of these coming is unsure. 

The vast majority of these arriving are from North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Serbia, and whereas the numbers are at present low, rising tensions between the latter two international locations may result in extra migrants for the area sooner or later.

Tensions have grown between the 2 neighbouring international locations since November when Kosovo made a routine determination to ban Serbs residing within the nation from utilizing Belgrade-issued license plates within the nation. Very like its Russian ally, Serbia has refused to recognise Kosovo’s independence, and the escalating tensions have brought about issues for Western international locations.

When requested how Higher Bavaria is making ready for an inflow ought to tensions escalate, press officer Wolfgang Rupp advised Euronews: “We can’t make predictions about future arrivals of refugees. Nevertheless, the District Authorities of Higher Bavaria is repeatedly increasing its lodging to have the ability to home each migrant arriving inside our jurisdiction.”