At the start of the week, the Union and the traffic light parties continued to grapple with citizen money: there was talk of “shabbyness”, “insult” and “poisoning of the well”. The introduction of January 1 seems to be more and more wobbly.
In the dispute over the introduction of the planned citizens’ income, the traffic light parties and the Union remain on a confrontational course – this means that the schedule for the start on January 1st is becoming more and more shaky.
CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja expects that the Mediation Committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat will ultimately have to seek a compromise, as he made clear on Monday. That could at least delay the traffic light plans for introducing citizen income. At the beginning of the week, both sides rejected compromise proposals from the other side and criticized each other.
Heil: “The hand is stretched out”
Numerous requests for changes from the federal states were addressed, said Federal Minister of Social Affairs Hubertus Heil (SPD). “So the hand is outstretched.” Should there be a mediation procedure between the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, solutions must be found so that the law can come into force on January 1st. Green Group Vice President Andreas Audretsch also spoke of an outstretched hand. “The Union is reacting to this with more fake news and a shabby competition,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
In return, Union parliamentary group leader Hermann Gröhe (CDU) accused the traffic light of a “combination of inadequate proposals and insults to the Union”. This is “prognostically no contribution to facilitating approval”. The SPD, Greens and FDP in the Bundesrat are dependent on the approval of the federal states governed by the Union for the introduction of citizen income.
Gröhe also spoke of “well poisoning” and referred to statements by SPD leader Lars Klingbeil at the weekend. In the discussion about citizen income, he had accused the Union of spreading false figures and playing low earners off against people who depend on the state. Recently, the Union has repeatedly accused people of the fact that it would hardly be worth going to work with the citizen’s income.
CDU and CSU see “wrong incentives”
With the reform, the traffic light wants to replace the Hartz IV system. From the point of view of the CDU and CSU, however, the citizen’s income sets “wrong incentives” and ends the principle of “support and demand”. Specifically, Union politicians are bothered by the so-called “trust period” – in the first six months, no more services should be reduced if, for example, no applications are written. The “parental period” is also criticized – assets and adequacy of the apartment should only be checked after two years of receiving citizen benefit. Another point of criticism is the so-called protective assets – a maximum of 60,000 euros, which are not touched if someone draws citizen’s income.
“Common path” of job centers and job seekers
The traffic light is based on a new approach between job seekers and the job center on an “equal footing”. “We have also enshrined obligations to cooperate in the law, but we believe that we should not first threaten people with sanctions, but rather invite them to walk a common path. We think that is more promising,” said the deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Dagmar Schmidt. In order to accommodate the Union, the rules in the bill were recently made somewhat stricter. But that’s not enough for the CDU and CSU.
Merz’s proposal is rejected by traffic lights
Instead, CDU leader Friedrich Merz proposed initially only increasing the previous Hartz IV standard rates at the beginning of the year. “And then we have to talk about this system change that is being made with this so-called citizen money,” said the CDU leader in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. The Ampel representatives promptly rejected this: “That would have fallen short in terms of labor market policy. That’s why we are promoting a major reform,” said Heil. “Simply increasing the standard rates without improving performance justice and promotion opportunities through reforms – that is out of the question for the FDP,” said deputy party chairman Johannes Vogel.
Bundestag decides on Thursday
First of all, the traffic light is now expected to pass the law with its majority this Thursday in the Bundestag. Then the Federal Council must decide. The next regular meeting in the state chamber is on November 25th. If the law does not get approval there, it would be up to the mediation committee.
The Federal Employment Agency (BA) pointed out on Monday that time is of the essence. The increase in the current Hartz IV rates planned as part of the introduction of citizen income can only be implemented if there is a Federal Council decision by November 30 at the latest, said the BA expert Eva Strobel at a hearing in the Bundestag’s social committee. According to the plans, single people should receive 502 euros a month in the future. Today it is 449 euros.
Source: Stern
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