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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced the expulsion of over one million Ukrainian refugees, claims a false narrative, promoted by Russian propaganda and taken over in Romania.
Pro-Russian propaganda resumes false narratives about Ukrainian refugees
NEWS: "Just when we thought we got rid of them, here's the news - not only are we not getting rid of 'Slava', but we're going to have to cram a bit because Germany wants to send us a pretty hefty contingent!" Berlin plans to get rid of 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees, and Olaf Scholz has even threatened to block any negotiations in Brussels after the European Parliament elections if the EU states do not get the "solidarity-based distribution" envisaged in Berlin. The social services in Germany are suffocated and no longer able to cope with the expenses for the maintenance of Ukrainian refugees, so Scholz wants to push several tens of thousands of migrants, if not even more, towards us, the Romanians. [...] This year's elections are the most important in the history of the EU, proof that even now, with two weeks left until the vote, the parties in the EP have not managed to reach an agreement regarding the division of important functions. Tensions are high, and Germany's chancellor added fuel to the smoldering fire by announcing that he wants "a more even distribution of Ukrainian refugees throughout the European Union." Why? Because his country can no longer support the accommodation, meals and other expenses of over 1.3 million Ukrainian migrants. The prestigious daily Die Welt writes that "Olaf Scholz strongly supports a solidarity-based distribution of refugees and believes that, in particular, secondary migration should be addressed and resolved within the E.U."
NARRATIVE: Germany will expel the over one million Ukrainian refugees that are currently on its territory.
BACKGROUND: Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine , approximately 6.5 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered worldwide, the vast majority of whom, approximately six million, are in Europe. Officially, in February 2024, more than 1,100,000 refugees from Ukraine were registered in Germany, the largest number of all the countries hosting Ukrainians, a fact largely due to the monthly financial allowance, extremely high compared to other European countries, provided by the Berlin executive. At the same time, the European Union has implemented the Temporary Protection Directive, a legislative provision that guarantees access to accommodation, social and medical assistance for Ukrainian refugees. They got the right to a residence and work permit in the EU, as well as the right to enroll their children in school. Initially, the protection was granted for one year, but it has already been extended twice, until March 2025, and at this moment, there are already discussions at the European level, to prepare the legislative framework after the expiration of this period. In principle, in the absence of a legal provision at EU level, once the period of temporary protection has ended, in all states hosting Ukrainian refugees, generic local laws on the protection of non-EU citizens will apply, including those regulating their return to the country of origin.
That is why the institutions and organizations that deal with migration management say that it is imperative to find a solution that ensures a smooth transition of refugees from the temporary protection regime to national laws, which should also include encouraging the eventual return of refugees to Ukraine. However, taking advantage of the European elections that are due at the end of this week, which brought the negotiations for the adoption of new legislation regarding refugees from Ukraine to a standstill, the (pro)Russian propaganda forcefully resumed the negative narratives about them. For example, the news that "in Poland and the Czech Republic, posters have appeared on the windows of large stores, stating that Ukrainian speakers are not welcome/served", originally appeared in 2022, and was based on some obviously Photoshopped photos. In Romania too, after the wave of support during the first months of the war, false narratives about Ukrainian refugees and messages inciting hatred against them appeared more and more often, in a concerted and organized effort to divide society on the subject of refugees. This although, unlike the Western states, where there are hundreds of thousands of refugees, and even countries such as Slovakia (115,000) or Moldova (120,000), Romania is hosting only approximately 80,000 refugees from the neighboring country.
PURPOSE: To amplify anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian feelings, to promote an anti-Western discourse, to trigger and enhance social tensions.
The solidarity-based distribution invoked by Scholz is about the financial effort to support Ukrainian refugees
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: The narrative regarding Germany's plan to force Ukrainian refugees to leave the country originally appeared on the website of Sputnik International, a subsidiary of Russia's main propaganda tool, Sputnik. Moreover, in the description on its own website, the publication states as clearly as possible that the agency's headquarters are in Moscow. It was later taken over by the infobrics.org website, a portal that publishes relevant information about the BRICS interstate organization, the new pole of economic power led and intensively promoted by Russia. In Romania, the narrative was brought to the public's attention by a nationalist publication, under the pretext that the refugees "kicked out" from Germany will arrive in Romania, and Bucharest will be forced by the Western powers to accept and support them. Over time, that publication has launched several false anti-Western narratives, accusing NATO of destroying the Danube Delta or claiming that Romania has become the territory where the US masters are conducting dangerous nuclear experiments.
In reality, the article in the daily Die Welt analyzes the debate taking place in the German public space, related to the financial pressure exerted by the aid for refugees in general, not only those from Ukraine, on the federal social insurance system. According to the German legislation, a refugee can receive from the state an aid of at least 953 euros per month , which represents a considerable financial effort, especially in the context in which the amount provided by this aid is one of the highest at the European level, being exceeded only by the one granted by Belgium. The really relevant discussion regarding the Ukrainian refugees is related to the extremely small proportion (about 18%) of those who have a job. The causes of this phenomenon are multiple, but basically, they are related to either the employment procedures in Germany, which are considered time-consuming and extremely complicated compared to other European countries, or the arduous procedure for equating studies and qualifications obtained in Ukraine, but also the high social benefits, which stimulate the preference for the status of social welfare beneficiary.
However, regardless of the causes and the impact on the finances of the German state, there is no mention in the article about expelling Ukrainians. On the contrary, the leader of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Front has stated that "it must be our highest priority to bring refugees from Ukraine to the German labor market, because every additional job helps to boost our economic growth." "A job is also crucial for successful integration," says the head of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Stephan Thomae. "That's why we should provide incentives so that Ukrainian refugees are not stuck in social systems, but can find work here quickly and without red tape." The idea is also supported by the Christian Democrat deputy Gitta Conneman, who believes that the real goal of the government in Berlin is to "finally introduce as many refugees as possible into the labor market. After all, we have over 1.7 million vacancies.”
Moreover, the article does not even mention the name of Chancellor Olaf Scholz or any statement by him on the topic invoked by the Russian propaganda. In fact, in a statement he gave last month , Scholz basically stated the same idea, that the number of Ukrainians who have a stable job in Germany must increase. At the same time, the German chancellor assured that "anyone who is employed here and is not guilty of any crime" will certainly be allowed to stay, even after the expiration of the protection period for Ukrainian refugees in March 2025. As regards the “solidarity-based distribution", Scholz's request did not refer to refugees per se, but to the funds allocated by the European Union to help them, in the sense that they should be directed proportionally to the number of refugees hosted by each country. At the same time, there is absolutely no reference to Romania or mandatory Ukrainian refugee quotas in the analyzed material, apart from the phrase "countries such as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania, where war refugees receive very little financial support, were not included in the analysis. "
GRAIN OF TRUTH: In Germany, there are voices against the preferential treatment benefiting Ukrainians, in the sense that, unlike other categories of refugees, they receive the benefits provided for by law immediately upon arrival, while other people seeking protection receive them only after they go through the asylum procedures, which take about nine months.
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