Future German government Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) plans to invest 500 billion euros in the coming years in the reconstruction of dilapidated infrastructure: railways, roads and bridges. At the same time, he intends to focus on another burning problem, which is the lack of apartments in Germany.
But those plans, apart from money, will also require a lot of workers - qualified and unqualified. It is precisely in this sector that the Western Balkans Rule, which was introduced in 2016, covered the needs of the German labor market in recent years, because unlike other labor immigration programs, the Western Balkans Rule did not imply a qualification, but only an employment contract with a German employer. This allowed the construction industry in particular to employ unskilled workers who are also in short supply on the German labor market, writes DW.
Wrong and harmful decision
Last year, the social-democratic-green-liberal government, in the midst of immigration liberalization, raised the annual quota as part of the Western Balkans Rule from 25.000 to 50.000 work permits per year. But the new government, in its coalition agreement of last week, reduced that quota again to 25.000 permits a year. Now many employers are wondering what is the reason for this.
"The rule on the Western Balkans has proven to be a tried-and-tested instrument for finding labor without excessive bureaucracy, which is otherwise rare when it comes to immigration," Deputy Director of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Achim Derks told the Stuttgart Zeitung newspaper. That is why, in his opinion, the decision of the future government to cut the Western Balkan quota in half again is wrong.
Tim-Oliver Müller, director of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry, shares a similar opinion. He also told the Stuttgarter Zeitung that the reduction of the annual quota particularly affects the construction industry. "A significant part of foreign workers on German construction sites comes from some of the countries of the former Yugoslavia. The current decision to reduce that contingent is surprising and harmful, especially if you take into account the planned infrastructure projects that will increase the demand for labor," says Miller.
Why reduce quotas?
The reduction of the quota will not only affect large infrastructure projects, but also housing construction, according to Aksel Gedaško, director of the umbrella association of housing construction (GdW). "If the flow of workers from the Western Balkans is halved, it could worsen the labor shortage on construction sites," he believes.
Even Jan Danenbring, from the Central Association of German Craftsmen (ZDH), does not understand the reasons for reducing the contingent. "The federal government recently doubled that quota, and is now bringing it back again, although the circumstances compared to last year have not changed," says Dannenbring, also for the Stuttgarter Zeitung. And he concludes: "If we want to change something in the area of housing construction, we will need every person."
Negative comments and lack of understanding of the future government's decision on the Western Balkans Rule also come from the ranks of labor market experts. Herbert Bricker from the Institute for Labor Market Research (IAB) believes that the government's move "sends the wrong signal". He points out that the Western Balkans Rule has so far proven to be a successful mechanism. "95 to 98 percent of those who arrived in Germany as part of that rule are employed and regularly pay contributions in the year after their arrival in Germany," Bricker concludes.
