Reports by the German public networks WDR and NDR revealed that the funds allocated for 2026 within the European Reintegration Program (EURP) have been completely exhausted, which means that no new cases are being accepted to benefit from the program at the present time.
The program is one of the most important tools used to support people who wish to leave Germany voluntarily, especially those whose asylum applications have been rejected and who are obligated to leave the country.
For years, the German authorities have been betting on encouraging voluntary return, after experience showed that implementing forced deportations is often complicated and expensive. Over the past year, more than half of attempts to deport rejected asylum seekers failed. In many cases, the persons concerned were not present at their place of residence when the deportation took place, even though the authorities and police had spent months, and sometimes years, preparing for the operation.
For this reason, financial assistance and reintegration after return have become an essential part of the policy of encouraging voluntary departure.
Housing, health and reintegration assistance
The European Reintegration Program (EURP) provides financial and in-kind support to people returning to their countries, including assistance with housing costs during the first days after arrival, health care, as well as support for reintegration in the country of origin.
The value of this aid may exceed three thousand euros per person.
In some cases, additional support can also be obtained from the REAG/GARP program funded by the federal government and the German states, and its value may exceed an additional one thousand euros.
According to official figures, about 20,000 people in Europe benefited from the European Reintegration Program (EURP) during the year 2025, including 9,708 people in Germany. About 16,000 people also received support from the REAG/GARP program during the same year.
The European Commission has not yet revealed the size of the total budget allocated to the program in 2026. However, a previous report by the European Border Protection Agency “Frontex” indicated that the program’s budget amounted to about 30 million euros in 2024.
The number of voluntary returnees exceeds those deported
The numbers show why this type of support is important to the German authorities. In 2025, Germany deported about 23,000 people, while more than 36,000 people voluntarily returned to their countries. Not all returnees received financial assistance, but figures show that voluntary return has become a more widely used path than forced deportation.
There are currently about 260,000 people living in Germany who are legally obligated to leave. However, the deportation of more than three-quarters of them is temporarily suspended because they have been granted a “temporary tolerance” status known as Duldung.
Why did you run out of money?
Applications to benefit from the EURP program in Germany are submitted through the Federal Authority for Migration and Refugees, but funding comes from the European Union's Frontex agency.
An agency spokesman confirmed that the funds allocated to the program through 2026 have become “fully committed,” as a result of “the very high demand for reintegration assistance.” Because of this, the agency temporarily stopped accepting new cases.
The German Interior Ministry said it received notification from Frontex on October 2 about the cessation of funding. The Ministry confirmed that returning to the country of origin is still possible even without obtaining additional reintegration assistance, but the reality in a number of states indicates that the cessation of support has already affected some cases of return.
A German state affected by the decision
In Lower Saxony, more than a thousand people benefited from the program during the first nine months of this year.
As for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the number approached two thousand people by the end of September.
According to WDR and NDR reports, agencies in a number of states reported that some planned returns had already been halted after funding ran out.
Information from the two networks indicates that Frontex had warned the European Commission months ago that demand for the program during 2026 would be much higher than expectations. However, the allocations have not been increased yet.
