Migrants in Germany who won’t integrate will face benefit cuts

BERLIN – Germany’s labour minister is threatening to cut benefits for migrants who don’t want to integrate into German society.

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers last year. Integrating those who are allowed to stay into society and the labour market will pose a major challenge in the years ahead.

Labour Minister Andrea Nahles wrote in Monday’s edition of the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that “all people who live in Germany, no matter what their ethnic origin, must make an effort, seek work and support themselves and their families as well as they can.”

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Nahles added: “we will cut benefits to those who signal that they do not want to integrate.” She said that could be measured by willingness to abide by German society’s rules and to take language classes.

WATCH: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein said on Monday that attacks in Cologne and similar attacks in other German cities must not lead to a stigmatisation of migrants in general.

1:06 UN HR chief: Migrants must not be stigmatised