Tagesschau: Georgian Government Uninterested in Germany’s Offer to Easy Labor Market Access
A publication by Tagesschau, a German national and international television news service, says that the Georgian Government rejected the initial proposal from Germany to expand the Western Balkans Regulation and to include Georgia in this regulation, “which would have made it easier for Georgians to access the German labor marker”. The article notes that this was Joachim Stamp’s [German government’s Special Representative for migration agreements] initial offer to the Georgian government. “From the German perspective, a sensible move – but for Georgia this idea was completely uninteresting,” – the article reads.
The Western Balkan Regulation is a German migration regulation enacted in 2015 that allows people from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia to obtain temporary work visas as long as they have a job offer from a German employer.
Prior to the publication of the Tagesschau article, Nancy Feaser, Germany’s Minister of the Interior and Community, was on a visit to Georgia. During the visit, she met with the Georgian counterpart, Vakhtang Gomelauri, and signed an Agreement on Migration and Mobility, which, according to the Georgian MIA, aims “to bolster collaboration between Georgia and the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of labor migration and education, with an emphasis on expanding educational and internship initiatives for Georgian students and researchers,” but also “to intensify efforts against illegal migration, which includes strengthening cooperation on the readmission and reintegration of Georgian citizens of who have violated visa-free travel regulations.”
Tagesschau writes that about 8,000 asylum applications come from Georgia every year, but 99% of them are rejected, yet the applicants receive financial support for several months while their applications are still being processed. “If these applications were to be eliminated in the future, this would relieve the burden on the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).”
In light of the above, Tagesschau says that Germany had two goals with regard to Georgia; the first was outlined as follows: “Fewer Georgians should apply for asylum in Germany because they usually don’t get it and the procedures still burden the German bureaucracy”. The second was formulated as follows: “Georgians should immigrate to the regular labor market because there is a lack of skilled workers in Germany.”
Tagesschau quotes Joachim Stamp, as saying that the current agreement “primarily concerns those Georgians who have already left their homeland and are now traveling in the EU.”
Following the coverage of the issue in the Georgian media, the Georgian MIA issued a statement On December 21, saying that “the misinformation is being disseminated in some media as if the Georgian side had rejected the offer of the “Balkan model,” which contradicts reality”.
The Georgian MIA stated that during the lengthy process of negotiating the Agreement on Migration and Mobility between the Georgian and German sides “the so-called “Balkan model” was not a subject of discussion”.
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