With the basic child security, the Greens want to combine several family policy services. However, the responsible ministry has not yet priced in the financing.
According to a media report, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is blocking the basic child security system anchored in the coalition agreement. According to a report by the “Business Insider” portal from the Ministry of Finance, the financing has not yet been clarified. There was a sharp protest from the child protection association.
In future, family policy benefits such as child benefit and child allowance, Hartz IV benefits or child allowance are to be combined and expanded in the basic child security system demanded above all by the Greens. According to the report, the Green Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus expects costs of eleven billion euros in the medium term.
However, the Ministry of Finance has already blocked this in the current negotiations on the federal budget for 2024, it said. Also in the financial planning for the following years, the basic child security has apparently not yet been priced in. The Ministry of Finance has pointed out that it must be ensured that all projects can be incorporated into the budget.
“I am appalled by the attitude of the Federal Finance Minister to the financing of the basic child security agreed in the coalition agreement,” said the President of the Child Protection Association, Heinz Hilgers. He pointed out that Lindner was currently planning “ten billion euros for a stock pension”. Hilgers also referred to the demand by the Federal Minister of Defense and SPD politician Boris Pistorius for an additional ten billion euros for the Bundeswehr. For the fight against child poverty, on the other hand, “only the crumbs of the cake should remain,” he criticized.
The federal cabinet intends to make a decision on the cornerstones of the new federal budget in mid-March. That’s why the coalition is still fighting fiercely.
Previously, there had been points of friction between Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Lindner when the 2024 budget was being drawn up. In a letter from Habeck to Lindner it says: “We ask you not to make any further public or internal preliminary decisions that unilaterally prioritize further expenditure.” The stock pension, the sales tax reduction for the catering trade and the German Armed Forces are mentioned as examples. Habeck writes that the rules for compliance with the debt brake have been agreed and are not being questioned by the Greens.
Regarding Habeck’s proposal for “income improvements”, Lindner writes: “I do not want to take up this suggestion. On behalf of the ministries led by the Free Democrats, I can state that tax increases or other structural additional burdens for the citizens or the economy are excluded from the coalition agreement. “
