Actually, the week before the summer break could have been a good one – for Lisa Paus too. There is finally halfway agreement on basic child security. But their decision to parental allowance makes the traffic light coalition argue again.
The week before summer vacation. Do you remember? Hiking days, watching films, sports festival – that’s pretty much what it looked like when we were at school. Well, in Berlin it’s different. So not in Berlin schools, but certainly in politics.
Family Minister Lisa Paus compares the days during a conversation on Monday afternoon with the last week before the closing date for grades. You already know: report very diligently, give a presentation and definitely have your homework with you so that in the end it is enough for a better grade. The coalition, some would say, is more about the transfer than the 1 with an asterisk.
Two topics are particularly important for the federal government this week: The heating law, which is exceptionally left out in this article. And the budget for 2024, which the federal government wants to approve this week. This in turn affects Lisa Paus twice.
How basic child security and household are related
The green leadership circle of parliamentary group leaders, party leaders and the two most important ministers Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck had long ago agreed with Lisa Paus that the budget would not be approved unless it was made certain that basic child security was coming.
In addition to climate policy, basic child security is the party’s most important project in this coalition. By bundling all services for children, it should be easier for parents to get the right money. In addition, which is also crucial for the Greens, the funds should increase, especially for poorer families.
This knot is now untied. The Greens approved the budget on Wednesday because the medium-term financial plan for 2025 includes two billion euros for basic child security. A letter from the Federal Chancellor was necessary for this, emphasizing from the Greens’ point of view that the Federal Government wants to introduce basic child security.
For Paus, however, that means detention for the time being. Because Scholz writes to her in the letter: “So that by the end of August there is a draft bill that has been agreed within the federal government, your house should quickly develop it along the key points available or supplement it with the regulations that are still missing.” He then lists exactly which possible alternatives she has to formulate and calculate.
But Paus doesn’t want this letter to be understood as a rebuke, let alone as an entry in the class register. “It is the clear goal of me, the chancellor and the entire federal government that we have a finished draft law by the end of August,” she told Stern on Monday. The ministry says she herself asked the chancellor to write the letter, so everything was agreed so that a breakthrough could finally be achieved. A somewhat strange letter culture that no one outside of this cabinet really understands.
The Chancellor’s letter is not the only one being passed back and forth between journalists, politicians and the Twitter public this week. And that brings us to the second point on which the budget debate affects Paus and her ministry: parental allowance.
Neither Christian Lindner nor Lisa Paus want to upset rich parents
Almost all ministries have to make savings this year. This also applies to Paus’ ministry. That’s why she’s saving now – on parental allowance. Only people with a taxable income of less than 150,000 euros a year should get this. Many people find that wrong, and the minister herself seems a little unhappy. “It is to be feared that, at least in this income group, fewer fathers will take parental leave. That would be a step backwards. And that’s not good,” she tells Stern.
But the FDP, which basically defends the austerity course, is dissatisfied with Paus’ decision. “I think it’s wrong, especially against the background of the goal of equality between men and women in the family,” said parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr on Tuesday. “The Free Democrats reject that in this form.”
And so there is a strange spectacle in which members of the government try to convey that they really can’t do anything about government policy. Paus explains that starthat Finance Minister Christian Lindner is actually to blame: “There was a requirement to curb the dynamic development of this service. It was important to us to avoid socio-political damage. That’s why we didn’t lower the monthly payment amount, but reduced the group of those entitled to payment.” Paus’ State Secretary, in which Lindner’s State Secretary calls on the Ministry of Family Affairs to achieve savings through a reform of parental allowance.
On the same day, however, Lindner herself tweeted to Paus that she could of course also use the savings in other areas of her budget. Apparently she had replied to the first letter (unfortunately this answer has not yet been circulated in public). So it’s the Greens’ fault after all?
This week could have been a good one, after all things were finally agreed upon again. Instead, the fight just keeps going. The government really needs a summer vacation. A bit of distance, no public wrangling and then a first day after the holidays in all freshness. Maybe they do a tutoring course in communication in between.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
