The Bundestag finally decided on the planned citizens’ allowance on Thursday – but that is still a long way from being politically clear. A blockade of the Union in the Bundesrat is to be expected, both the government and the opposition are politically rowdy. The concluding debate in Parliament was carried out in a corresponding tone, including personal tips.
For example, from the Green parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann to the address of the CDU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz. As is well known, he had flown in on a private plane at the wedding of Finance Minister Christian Lindner in the summer. Haßelmann used this as a template.
Anyone who has to decide whether to jet to a party by private jet, car or train cannot put themselves in the shoes of a single mother who is wondering whether there are more than three scoops in the ice cream parlor for her three children. Haßelmann also accused Merz of “pinching”: When it came to citizens’ income, he had recently handed it out generously in the direction of the traffic lights, but did not step up to the lectern in Parliament.
Low point of any democratic debate
The CDU MP Marc Biadacz
The attacks on the governing coalition were carried out by others. CDU MP Marc Biadacz, for example, spoke of a “low point in any democratic debate” because SPD leader Lars Klingbeil recently accused Merz of taking the path of Donald Trump on the subject of citizen income by spreading fake news.
Fake news or not? The matter is complicated, and the mutual accusations quickly become fundamental. Citizens’ income is to replace Hartz IV, with a standard rate increased to 502 euros and a focus on professional qualifications. In the future, those affected should be treated more generously with regard to assets and sanctions – the Union does not agree with these two points in particular.
The Federal Council will now deal with the issue again on Monday, a week and a half earlier than previously planned. A special meeting was convened to deal with citizen income and the equally pressing issue of the natural gas heat emergency aid law. It is quite possible that the issue of citizen income will then go to the mediation committee for the first time in the current legislative period. Time is pressing, the new social benefit is to be introduced in January – actually.
The Union had suggested initially only increasing the standard rates together and negotiating everything else in peace. But the traffic light coalition sharply rejected this again on Thursday in the Bundestag. The parliamentary director of the FDP parliamentary group, Johannes Vogel, called the suggestion “absurd”.
His parliamentary colleague Jens Teutrine said that it was not “more casualness” that was at the heart of the reform, but rather the principle of performance. And Minister Heil called it a “logical break” that the Union claimed on the one hand that work would no longer be worthwhile in the future, but then wanted to increase the standard rates in isolation.
You will fail with that arrogance.
Hermann Gröhe, deputy chairman of the Union faction
In the previous parliamentary procedure, the traffic light made minor concessions to the Union. However, there is still a clear difference between the positions on the key issues of protective assets and sanctions. Hermann Gröhe, deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group, accused the government of refusing any fundamental debate about the “weaving flaws” of the law, despite massive criticism from experts. “You will fail with this arrogance,” predicted Gröhe.
He referred to the former SPD party leader Sigmar Gabriel. In an interview, he had said that he was not a particular fan of citizen income, that it reduced the incentive to work and cost a lot of money. In addition, Gröhe found that the government was “callous” with the staff councils of the job centers, who had complained about overloading in a fire letter.
Completely schizophrenic
Johannes Vogel, parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group
The coalition, on the other hand, argued against the Union’s claim that citizen income would no longer make work worthwhile. “Wrong in every single case,” said the liberal Vogel. The criticism of the opposition is “completely schizophrenic” on this point, after all, a CDU minister once introduced the calculation method for the standard rates.
In the end, Dietmar Bartsch (Left Party) accused the Union of “smear theatre”. The Conservatives would pit low earners against the unemployed, he said. The future standard rates are also clearly too low, the basic income is “Hartz five” in substance.
The Federal Council will have to decide on this next. The debate can continue there on Monday.
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Source: Tagesspiegel
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