The German government is racing against the clock to reach immigration agreements with at least six countries, in order to prevent the deterioration of public services that suffer from a large shortage of employees, and at the same time to limit irregular migration.
The negotiations include Georgia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, in addition to preparations for talks with Kenya and Morocco.
N-TV website stated that the priority of these agreements will be in favor of countries likely to join the European Union, such as Moldova and Georgia, due to the high number of rejection of asylum applications for citizens of these countries.
These agreements, according to officials, would ease pressure on German municipalities and courts.
The website quoted economist Monika Schnitzer as calling for 1.5 million people annually to combat the labor shortage, while the head of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Moritz Schularick, called for increasing immigration to face the skilled labor shortage.
In a similar context, public service unions are sounding the alarm, due to the exacerbation of the shortage in the number of employees, according to the “Amal, Berlin!” website.
“Without an intervention, collapse looms,” warns Daniel Merbitz of the Confederation for Education and Science (GEW). The shortage is no longer limited to teachers and medical care providers. It has reached the police as well.
Police Union Vice President (GdP) Michael Mertens stated that there is a shortage of officers in all sectors of the police, which has caused a backlog of many cases, according to the Tagesschau website.
In turn, the President of the Civil Service Union (dbb), Ulrich Silberbach, urges progress in digitization and reducing bureaucracy to prevent delays and poor state performance.
The website stated that more than 360,000 vacancies in the public service sector are not filled, and at the same time, 1.3 million public servants are scheduled to retire by 2030.
