Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – In order to clarify the financing of a hardship fund for needy pensioners, Left Party leader Eva von Angern asked Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) for a personal interview. In a letter to the prime minister on Monday, she said she saw Haseloff “as an ally in this matter.”
The left faction is pushing for the state to participate in the planned federal hardship fund for needy pensioners. The previously planned one-time payment of 2500 euros could thus be doubled. The left wants to make a corresponding application in the state parliament this week.
Von Angern told journalists in Magdeburg on Monday that Haseloff had declared that he wanted to stand up for East German interests. “We don’t see the success,” said von Angern. She assumes that her application will be rejected in Parliament. However, progress had to be made on the subject, which is why she decided to write to Haseloff.
The hardship fund is intended to enable one-off payments to pensioners on the poverty line who lost their entitlements when the GDR pensions were transferred to the German system three decades ago. The payments are intended to mitigate particular hardships, they are not intended for all groups of people affected. The budget committee in the Bundestag has released 500 million euros for the fund. The federal states can join a corresponding foundation and participate.
