Budget: Green light for planned tightening of citizens’ money

The Federal Cabinet has given the green light for the planned tightening of citizens’ benefits. In the future, job centers will be able to completely cancel citizens’ benefit for unemployed people for a maximum of two months if those affected consistently refuse to take up work.

“The possibility of taking up work must actually and immediately exist and be deliberately refused,” says the corresponding draft of a budget financing law, according to information from the German Press Agency.

According to dpa information, the cabinet decided on a so-called formulation aid for the draft law, which the coalition factions can now introduce to the Bundestag. It includes several measures from the austerity package for the 2024 budget. The planned regulation on citizens’ money is expected to bring savings of around 170 million euros per year – 150 million for the federal government and 20 million for the municipalities. Accommodation and heating costs should not be eliminated.

Citizens’ money bonus will be abolished

In addition, the citizen’s allowance bonus of 75 euros per month is to be abolished. It was introduced for further training that is not aimed at obtaining a professional qualification. This is expected to bring savings of 100 million euros. Further training for a degree will continue to be supported with 150 euros per month. Bonuses should continue to flow for exams passed.

The Federal Employment Agency (BA) is also supposed to pay back billions to the federal government in 2020 and 2021 to partially compensate for federal financing contributions during the peak phase of the corona pandemic. At the end of 2024 and 2025, the BA is expected to transfer 1.5 billion euros to the federal government and 1.1 billion at the end of 2026 and 2027.

In addition, the federal subsidy for statutory pension insurance in the years 2024 to 2027 is expected to be 600 million euros lower than previously planned.

Merz: Citizens’ money for Ukrainian refugees is probably a mistake

Meanwhile, CDU leader Friedrich Merz is calling for a tougher approach so that more Ukrainian refugees work in Germany and the state is thereby relieved of the financial burden. While only 20 percent of Ukrainian refugees are in the labor market in the Federal Republic, the rate is 60 percent in the Netherlands and 90 percent in Poland, said Merz at the New Year’s reception of the Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK). It turns out that the current system has weaknesses and needs to be improved.

Merz was critical of the fact that Ukrainian refugees are entitled to citizen’s benefit and therefore receive more state benefits than asylum seekers. “It was probably a mistake that we decided two years ago – immediately after the start of the refugee crisis from Ukraine – between the federal and state governments that the Ukrainian refugees would also go into the citizen’s allowance almost immediately and not initially receive asylum seeker benefits for a certain period of time .”