Controversy over citizen money: the left demands 1,200 euros of minimum security

The left has declared war on the new citizens’ income. “We will do everything in the German Bundestag, through the left-wing states in the Bundesrat and through our left-wing state governments to achieve the system change,” says a joint statement by party and faction leaders, which is available to the German Press Agency. For the left, this includes “a sanction-free minimum security of 1,200 euros”.

The left has been fiercely criticizing the compromise negotiated by the traffic light coalition and the Union for days. “The citizen money is not an overcoming of Harz IV,” affirms the joint statement by the party leaders Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan and the parliamentary group leaders Dietmar Bartsch and Amira Mohamed Ali, who also support party representatives from countries with left-wing government participation.

It is acknowledged that the reform sets “new accents”, including the priority for education and further training. But: “The basic security must be poverty-proof and must no longer be tied to sanctions.” From the point of view of the Left and the left-wing government representatives from Berlin, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia, “further steps towards fundamentally overcoming Hartz IV” are necessary in the short term .

“The traffic light coalition’s idea of ​​citizens’ income had a good goal,” said Berlin Senator for Social Affairs Katja Kipping. But: “The agreed steps are too small, too few and they are too despondent.” The changes enforced by the Union are “shabby”.

With the government reform, the monthly state aid for more than seven million people in Germany is to be increased as of January 1st. For single people, the rate is to increase by 53 to 502 euros per month. In a mediation process, the Union enforced tougher sanction threats than the traffic lights had planned. (dpa)

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