I was speaking to a very good friend who lives with his young family in Germany, both are native Germans and are in decent jobs, both of them Husband and wife worked in Pakistan on a development project and so they have a very wide world view.
He was telling me that most Germans rent rather than own property, the rent for his apartment is 2100 euros. The average monthly take home in Germany as per him is 2500 euros. Both husband and wife work, consider the dent this rental amount puts in their disposable income.
Now add to this the cost of travel, child care, food and other expenses... One of the major concerns is the rapid influx of Ukrainian refugees. He was telling me that at first they had about 1,000 or so refugees who were temporarily housed in a modified airbase and in hotels at the public expense. However fast forward to 2024 and Germany is host to more than 1 Million Ukrainians.
A significant proportion of the German people are angry because most of the refugees are unemployed and this receive unemployment benefit which again is at public expense, meanwhile the creeping deindustrialistion in Germany has meant that native Germans are more frequently having to rely on government handouts or facing the fear of layoffs and redundancies.
The German Christian party has taken a firm stance on this and stated that should the Ukranian's living in Germany which to seek permanent residency, that will have to come with a commitment to work and integrate into German society.
Meanwhile Germany's economy woes only worsen. I truly feel sorry for the people of Ukraine, they are caught between a rock and a hard place. No one wishes to leave their homes to go to strange shores at the mercy of strangers, but they have no other choice.
Another issue in Germany is the rise of undocumented economic migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan, South Asia and particularly according to my friend African nationals.
Interestingly Afghans and Syrians in particular are in the firing line, Afghans are known for street crime in Germany and following the knife attack in Mannheim in which a police officer was murdered by an Afghan, the government has now decided to deport any Syrian and Afghan who has even minor criminal history.
These are the realities that are not looked at, this is the bleak future facing all of Europe.
