According to Labor Minister Heil, the introduction of citizen's income should bring about "one of the biggest social reforms in 20 years" - starting with the new year. According to a report, the Union is now threatening a blockade in the Bundesrat - and apparently wants to cut citizen money for beautiful assets.
The start of citizen income, which is planned for January 1, 2023, could be delayed. Because the Union wants to block the law that requires approval in its current form in the Bundesrat if the traffic light coalition is not prepared to make far-reaching concessions. CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja told the "Tagesspiegel": "The CDU will not be able to agree to that. I assume that we will have to talk about it in the mediation committee."
Czaja criticized the plan to introduce high levels of social security: "A family of four should still be entitled to basic income with a personal allowance of 150,000 euros, while another young family works hard and pays taxes to finance the public benefit. That is deeply antisocial and hurts all the principles of a social market economy. Those who work must have more than those who can work and don't." It also creates the wrong incentives to take on the heating costs in full.
If there is actually a mediation committee, according to coalition circles, the reform could not come into force as planned at the turn of the year, since the job centers would then not have the time to prepare. The citizen benefit is intended to replace the previous unemployment benefit II. The traffic light parties want higher standard rates, fewer sanctions than before and significantly higher protective assets - for a family with four children, for example, 150,000 euros.
In his speech at the CSU party conference in Augsburg, CDU party leader Friedrich Merz advocated increasing the standard rates, but sharply criticized the other plans. As a result of the reform, regular employment will "make no sense at all" for many people.
Merz' party colleague Reinhard Sager, President of the German District Association, indirectly advocated postponing the reform. "The job centers are already rotating," he told the Tagesspiegel. The citizen's income comes "at the wrong time", since the job centers are already "in the middle of crisis management" due to the refugees from Ukraine. Sufficient time to prepare is necessary.
The job center staff councils are already warning the Federal Government and the Bundestag against acute overloading of the job center employees in view of the planned introduction of citizen income and the planned budget cuts. According to a fire letter to Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil and the budget committee of the Bundestag, which is available to the "Spiegel", this is "unacceptable and bearable in this form".
Among other things, they are demanding that some parts of the basic income reform be postponed to July next year, 5,000 additional jobs – and the reversal of the cuts in the integration funds for the long-term unemployed into the labor market planned by Finance Minister Lindner for 2023. According to the will of the staff councils, the increase in the standard rate and the asset limits should take place as planned in January, according to the advance notification of the “Spiegel”.
