“This is like a treasure for our country and our children from Romania”

The report “EU poverty migration: welfare state in a dead end?” wants to show how regulations in European social law can be exploited. The report by MDR journalist Jana Gareis achieves this through long-term observation.

She is now visiting hotspot districts in German cities such as Magdeburg, Halle and Hagen, but also the Romanian villages of origin of the migrants. For almost 30 minutes, Gareis shows the consequences of EU freedom of movement for municipalities, residents and immigrants.

Free movement of workers in the European Union means that every Romanian or Bulgarian citizen has the right to live in Germany without a work permit or visa and to accept any job they want. Anyone who can prove that they are employed even on a part-time basis acquires EU employee status and is entitled to basic security and child benefit. Since 2014, the number of Romanian citizens in Magdeburg has increased almost twenty-fold.

Gareis meets long-time residents in Magdeburg's Neue Neustadt district who are suffering from immigration. The recordings document garbage and noise, and the residents' private video clips also show scenes of violence. One resident says: “I feel alien.”

Gareis tries to reunite with a woman she portrayed eight years ago: a Romanian named Micaela Bolbugiano. Her family lived on welfare. She came to Magdeburg to have her chronic lung disease treated with the help of German health insurance. The husband says in front of the camera: "I have to thank Germany. Thank you very much."

The figures from the Federal Employment Agency show that expenses for Romanian citizens in Magdeburg have increased significantly: from a good 140,000 euros in 2013 to more than three million euros in 2025. The problem lies in the system, explains Marc Elxnat from the German Association of Cities and Municipalities.

Jana Gareis then travels to the Romanian villages of her origin. The streets of the Roma neighborhoods are full of people, some of them with luxurious cars. Many license plates are German. The houses are more modern and significantly larger.

In Babulešć she meets a father of six who says he works in Hagen for the parcel service DPD. In Germany “everything is fine, with children, school”. Working in Romania is not good: “I work for 300 euros, it’s nothing.”

Fernando Steuker, a Romanian construction worker, also makes it clear what tempts him: “In Romania, child benefit is 50 euros, in Germany it is 255 euros.”

A Romanian mayor speaks openly about the importance of German aid: "In Germany they receive social assistance and housing benefit. This accumulates quickly. This is like a treasure for our country and our children from Romania."

Only the Association of Cities and Municipalities confirmed the calculation of the possible income for families with large children in Germany. With seven children, state benefits amount to up to 3,800 euros. The family has around 4,500 euros net per month.

In Hagen (NRW), the city is making full use of its legal options, including closing houses. To do this, forces are pooled with the help of a “task force” made up of the police, public order office, job center and other authorities.

Hagen currently has around 190,000 residents, including 4,500 with Romanian passports. Of these, almost 3,100 - or 70 percent - receive basic security. In 2013, however, there were only 52 benefit recipients.

Everyone involved emphasizes one thing: they see the problem at EU level. What is needed is a reform of the European concept of employee. However, a request from the MDR reporter to the EU Commission remained without a “concrete answer”.

The reporter's conclusion: "The EU knows the problem. It sees it as a purely German problem and has absolutely no plans to change anything about the EU Free Movement Directive."