Unemployment benefit: controversial issue of citizen’s allowance: debate about stricter rules

Against the backdrop of sharply increased expenditure on the citizen’s allowance, politicians from the CDU, FDP and AfD are putting pressure on the government to further tighten the rules for the social benefit. “The citizen’s allowance has not fulfilled expectations and therefore needs to be further reformed,” said Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner in the ARD “Summer Interview”. CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann spoke out in favor of completely cutting the citizen’s allowance for more than 100,000 people. This was met with sharp criticism from the SPD.

Lindner: “More consequences for free riders”

With regard to the federal budget, Lindner said: “We don’t have too little money, but rather we have too much spending.” He spoke of a sharp rise in social spending. “This is also linked to irregular immigration to Germany since 2015. A major task will therefore be to reorganize our welfare state. In short: accurate, more empathy for those in need, but more consequences for free riders.”

Linnemann told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “The statistics suggest that a six-figure number of people are fundamentally unwilling to accept a job.” If someone is fundamentally unwilling to do so, the state must assume that the person is not in need. “Then basic social security must be completely abolished.”

SPD angry: Recipients are defamed as lazy

The SPD reacted with sharp criticism: It certainly does not help working people in Germany to “defame citizens’ allowance recipients as lazy on an arbitrarily chosen scale – and to threaten with an unconstitutional complete cancellation of the benefit,” said the deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group Dagmar Schmidt to the Funke newspapers.

Tightening measures already planned

The federal government has already announced tightening of the rules for the citizen’s allowance in order to encourage more recipients to take up work. In future, a longer journey to work will be reasonable, refusing reasonable work will be punished with increased benefit cuts, and illegal work will also lead to cuts. The measures are part of the so-called growth initiative of the traffic light coalition, which is primarily intended to get the ailing economy back on track. “I think it’s good that the traffic light coalition wants to take a first step with the citizen’s allowance,” said Linnemann. But a fundamental change in policy is needed – towards a new basic security.

Expenditure increased significantly

Germany spent around 42.6 billion euros on citizens’ allowances last year, up from 36.6 billion the previous year, according to a response from the federal government to a query from AfD Bundestag member René Springer. A further query from Springer on the proportion of minors receiving citizens’ allowances revealed that around 5.6 billion euros were spent on people under 18. The data, which have not yet been published, were available to the German Press Agency.

The ratio of foreign and German children and young people in the citizen’s allowance has changed over the years: in 2010, there were around 1.37 million German and 304,000 foreign minors entitled to benefits. At the end of 2023, the ratio was 907,000 to 894,000. Spending went through the roof, criticized Springer, calling for an “elimination of the long-standing incentives for migration into the social systems and those additionally created by the traffic light coalition.”

Citizens’ allowance is adjusted annually

At the beginning of the year, the citizen’s allowance was increased by an average of around twelve percent compared to 2023 – for single people, this was an increase from 61 to 563 euros per month. The standard rate is adjusted annually to prices and wages and also takes inflation into account. Social Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) had said that if inflation now falls significantly, the next adjustment would be correspondingly low. The Federal Statistical Office will provide the necessary data for this in the summer.

Zero increase next year?

Finance Minister Lindner has already expressed his expectation several times that the rates will not rise again in 2025 and has now confirmed this in the ARD “Summer Interview”. Next year there will be no increase in the citizens’ allowance, he said. “It will not be increased, while the working population will be relieved of wage and income tax. This will widen the gap again, and that is also what the population expects.”