Germany slashes integration course budget from €1 billion to €590 million

Government funding for integration courses will be slashed in 2027, according to an overview of the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition’s draft budget conducted by Migration Commissioner Natalie Pawlik (SPD).

Heavy integration course cuts planned for 2027

Funding for German integration courses will be cut from over 1 billion euros in 2026 to around 590 million euros in 2027, according to the federal government’s draft budget.

In total, the government plans to spend 555,4 billion euros next year. Cuts have been made in many areas, including social security and climate protection policy. 

According to a report by Migazin, in the list of budget plans available to the individual departments responsible for integration, such as vocational language courses or funding for independent advice on asylum procedures, integration courses will see the “largest cuts by far”.

Integration courses are designed by the government to help anyone who has recently arrived in Germany to adjust to everyday life, culture and customs. Under German law, certain non-EU migrants are entitled or obliged to take part in an integration course.

“We benefit from immigration and must not cut back on our integration infrastructure to the point of destroying it,” Migration Commissioner Natalie Pawlik (SPD) told the dpa in response to the news.

Pawlik says integration courses important for growth

The 2027 draft budget and finance plan through to 2030 still need to be debated in parliament, likely in September, before facing a vote in the Bundestag and Bundesrat. Amendments may come in the meantime.

Pawlik praised the “ability of the federal government to take action”. In recent years, German politics has seen recurring budgetary deadlocks as coalition governments have been unable to reach agreement on spending.

Pawlik said that despite countless austerity measures included in the most recent budget, the new plan would bring positive outcomes. “But without integration, there can be no growth and no socially secure systems in the long term,” she continued.

“We must therefore ensure that programmes relating to integration are adequately funded during the parliamentary process.”