There is not much time left for a compromise: next week, the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat is to find a compromise on the initially failed citizen’s income. There was a debate about this in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt.
Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – Loud heckling, many inquiries, numbers thrown around – in an emotional debate, the state parliamentary groups in Saxony-Anhalt dealt with the controversial citizen’s income. The CDU in particular was attacked several times.
Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz (Greens) accused the Christian Democrats of having blocked the introduction of citizen income. The CDU is leaving 54,830 people who are receiving Hartz IV benefits in Saxony-Anhalt “in the rain,” she said. It is important to end the “grueling effect” of the Hartz IV system and to restore dignity to the people affected. “The claims of the CDU that people are lazy are factually wrong.” Anyone who immediately thinks of social fraud and free riders when it comes to social measures has “a completely wrong world view”.
The parliamentary manager of the CDU parliamentary group, Markus Kurze, rejected the allegations. He said that 68 percent of people in Germany would reject citizen income in its current form. “The conditions don’t suit us.” The principle of challenge and encouragement was used. However, the traffic light government in the federal government lacks respect for those who went to work every day and made the strong welfare state possible in the first place.
Kurz criticized the fact that breaches of duty in the first six months of receiving benefits did not lead to a reduction in benefits. The CDU politician complained that offers to take up work could be rejected without consequences.
The citizen income reform, with which the federal government consisting of the SPD, Greens and FDP wants to overcome the Hartz IV system, failed on Monday in the decisive vote in the Bundesrat. There, the project did not receive the necessary majority due to the resistance of the countries with a Union government. Now the Mediation Committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat is to work out a solution in the shortest possible time. According to Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), the committee is expected to meet on Wednesday.
With the reform, the traffic light wants to enable future recipients of basic income to be able to concentrate more on further education and job search. They should be put under less pressure by the job center. The standard rates should also increase – by a little more than 50 euros for single people.
Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Social Affairs, Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD), called on the CDU to give up its blocking attitude. “Let’s use the chances of the conciliation procedure,” she said. The SPD politician defended the plans of the federal government. It’s about respect for life’s work.
The FDP called for objectivity. Reductions in benefits are also possible in the future in the event of repeated missed appointments, said MP Konstantin Pott. Monika Hohmann (left) also criticized the fact that the CDU was not conducting an objective debate. She also complained that the planned standard rate increases would be too low.
Ulrich Siegmund (AfD) said that citizen money was a “slap in the face to the many top performers”. People in emergency situations through no fault of their own should get help from the welfare state, he said. In addition, however, the focus should be on the performance concept. According to Siegmund, someone who goes to work must have more money available than someone who doesn’t want to go to work. This is not the case with the planned citizens’ allowance. Several politicians rejected this statement.
