Erfurt (dpa/th) - The Thuringian CDU parliamentary group finds the Federal Council's blockade of the planned introduction of citizen income to be correct. It is good that the state chamber stopped the "socially unjust draft of the traffic light government", said CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt on Monday in Erfurt. "Those who work must have more money than someone who doesn't work," stressed Voigt. As previously announced, several state governments led by or with the participation of the Union refused to approve the project.
Voigt affirmed that the taxpayers' community of solidarity could only be used if the individual could not help himself. "But this requires effective sanctions for those who do not cooperate with the employment agency or who have accumulated large assets and still receive citizen benefits."
The introduction of the citizens' allowance, which is to replace Hartz IV, is considered an important project of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP in the federal government. The plans provide for an increase in the current standard rate from EUR 449 to EUR 502 for single beneficiaries. That is indisputable and is also supported by the Union.
However, the Union strictly rejects other points. For example, that in future the unemployed should be put under less pressure by a threatened withdrawal of benefits (sanctions), especially in the first six months of receiving citizen benefits ("trust period"). The traffic light wants to relax the requirements for the permitted amount of assets and the size of the apartment for benefit recipients.
After the blockade in the Federal Council, the social reform planned for January 1 cannot come into force for the time being.
The Thuringian Left MP Katharina König-Preuss wrote in a reaction on Twitter: "Unfortunately, it was to be expected that the CDU/CSU would prevent citizens' income and that with a disgusting campaign on the backs of those affected by poverty." The left in Thuringia had previously criticized the citizen money as insufficient, but at the same time rated it as a step in the right direction.
