With far-reaching concessions to the Union, the traffic light coalition brings a slimmed-down version of citizen income through the mediation committee. This means that the social reform can come on January 1st. Hartz IV is then history.
Millions of people in need can hope for higher government benefits and more thorough support from the job centers in the new year. After the basic agreement between the traffic light coalition and the CDU/CSU opposition, the Mediation Committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat also approved the changes in the evening, according to participants. The law now has to be formally confirmed by both houses.
The reform is intended to replace the old Hartz IV system. Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised earlier in the general debate in the Bundestag: “We will ensure that work pays more than at any time in a CDU-led federal government.” Citizens’ income is to start on January 1st with significantly higher standard rates in basic security. However, essential parts of the reform are not to come into force until July 1st: The job centers are to draw up a plan with each and every unemployed person concerned, in which the intended path back to regular work is determined.
Scholz defended the reform against previous criticism from the Union. What distinguishes the federal government from the SPD, Greens and FDP from the CDU and CSU is “apparently the image that we have of the citizens of our country”. The Union had criticized various regulations as being too lenient and warned that this could be at the expense of taxpayers and contributors.
Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann welcomed the compromise on citizen income. “I’m glad that we found an amicable solution today and that both sides have moved towards each other,” explained Kretschmann, as the State Chancellery announced in Stuttgart in the evening. Before the meeting of the Mediation Committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat, he had campaigned for the agreement. Under pressure from the CDU, the Baden-Württemberg state government had abstained from citizenship payments in the Bundesrat.