The Finance Minister’s new savings ideas affect people with citizen’s money and Ukrainians: Christian Lindner wants to cut state aid for them. The Chancellery reacted promptly.
According to a new initiative by FDP leader Christian Lindner, the state should save billions on housing costs for people on citizens’ benefit and for Ukrainian refugees. Lindner wants citizens’ benefit recipients to have their housing costs reimbursed at a flat rate in the future and not based on actual costs. “The benefit recipients can then decide whether they want to move into a smaller apartment and how they heat it,” said the Federal Finance Minister to “Wirtschaftswoche”.
“I believe we can save billions of euros here.” The Finance Minister wants to grant Ukrainians lower monthly payments. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) coolly announced that he had “taken note of the Finance Minister’s statement”. Scholz spokesman Steffen Hebestreit goes on to say: “But there are currently no overarching plans within the federal government for this.”
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) is also not impressed by Lindner’s renewed offensive against his social policy course. There was also a prompt reaction from the Left in the Bundestag: “It’s always the same story.”
The state pays for accommodation for 2.7 million families
Accommodation costs are currently recognized at 2.73 out of the 2.94 million communities of need – mostly families living together – cost: 1.77 billion euros. There are also 43 million euros for one-off expenses.
On average, around 650 euros are paid per family, 363 euros per person and 12 euros per square meter. Average area: 62 square meters per family and 35 square meters per person. Rental costs are shown separately for 2.68 million households and home ownership costs for 46,000 households.
Rents vary greatly depending on the location
Labor Minister Heil says: “Giving the cost of accommodation including additional costs a flat rate carries the risk of a cost explosion,” said a spokeswoman. Because an adequate apartment is part of the constitutional minimum subsistence level. “A flat rate would therefore have to be designed in such a way that it ensures adequate housing.”
If there were to be just one flat rate, it would have to be high enough “so that you can afford an apartment just as easily in Munich as in Merseburg.” Merseburg is located in Saxony-Anhalt. Rents there are on average significantly lower than in the Bavarian capital. In practical terms, a new apartment is far from always cheaper than an old rental agreement.
What does the state take over?
The state covers reasonable expenses for accommodation and heating for those receiving citizens’ benefit. Cosmetic repairs or cable fees can also be covered. If someone lives in their own property, the property tax is paid.
The Federal Employment Agency (BA) as well as districts and cities are responsible for citizens’ money, as a spokeswoman for the BA explained in Nuremberg. When it comes to accommodation and heating, it is the municipalities. They regulate what is locally appropriate.
Lindner also wants to save on Ukrainians
In addition to housing costs, Lindner wants to save in other areas. “We should consider a separate legal status for refugees from Ukraine,” he said. They should only receive asylum seeker benefits and labor market instruments. “Ukrainians (…) should (…) not immediately receive a citizen’s allowance that is aimed at a socio-economic subsistence level with social participation even without work.”
Since 2022, the “mass influx directive” has applied to Ukrainian war refugees across the EU, as the media service Integration explains. The advantage is: “War refugees from Ukraine (…) automatically receive residence status.” It is currently extended until March 2026.
In Germany, people from the attacked country can receive citizen’s money. Single people, for example, 563 euros per month. In 2025 there will be a zero round: the citizen’s benefit rates will remain unchanged. There is also help for rent and heating as well as health care.
There is less for asylum seekers with pending asylum applications: 460 euros per month according to the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. They are not yet receiving advice from the job center.
Around half a million employable Ukrainians
Since Russia’s attack in 2022, around 1.2 million people from Ukraine have found protection in Germany. Almost 65 percent of Ukrainians receive citizen’s benefit – a high figure compared to other nationalities.
According to the Federal Employment Agency, around 529,000 Ukrainians were registered with the job centers as “fit for work” in May 2024 and were entitled to citizen’s benefit. Many are still in job center measures or integration courses. Single parents with children without a daycare place are often unable to work for a short period of time.
Not everyone with citizen’s money can take a job, the Integration Media Service notes. 37 percent of Ukrainians of working age were available for the labor market in May 2024 – 4,000 fewer than in April.
2.7 million foreigners receive citizen’s benefit
The total number of foreigners with citizenship benefit has risen significantly in recent years to 2.7 million. That’s almost every second person with citizen’s money. The main reason for the increase is the refugee movement from Ukraine.
BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht recently said that the German welfare state was being threatened. The German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), on the other hand, considers it a success that more and more Ukrainians are being placed in jobs, as board member Anja Piel makes clear.
Experts defend “sustainable strategy”
The Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB), the BA’s think tank, defends the “sustainable strategy” laid out in the citizen’s benefit system, as IAB research director Enzo Weber said. People would not be brought into the job market as quickly as possible – but with German and qualifications.
According to the IAB, twice as many Ukrainians are now going out of unemployment and into jobs every month as in the previous year. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently considered the “job engine” for refugees in Germany launched by Labor Minister Heil as a success: 266,000 refugees from Ukraine are currently with jobs in Germany.
Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) called for citizen benefit reforms for Germans and Ukrainian refugees. “Honestly working people rightly ask themselves why there are able-bodied citizens who receive state benefits instead of working,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The Left praises the government – and attacks Lindner
The Left accuses Lindner of shabbiness and right-wing populism. Your escape expert in parliament, Clara Bünger, said: “Instead of (…) getting money from the rich, Federal Finance Minister Lindner is attacking those who already have little.” The reasons for the neediness of many of those affected are a lack of daycare places, hurdles in the recognition of qualifications or long waiting times for language courses.
Bünger’s praise is unusual for a left-wing politician: “The federal government also knows this and is trying to break down these barriers (…).” Left deputy Lorenz Gösta-Beutin said: “Lindner wants to drive away poor people and turn off their heating.”
BA Statistics Housing Costs Current Media Service Integration for Ukrainian Refugees in Germany Statistics Integration and Citizens’ Money Jobcenter.digital – Support through Citizens’ Money
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.
