After the difficult agreement in the traffic light on basic child welfare, the coalition is already facing the next difficult negotiations – namely with the Union. “Not all of the questions and problems of the complex project have been solved,” said CDU deputy chairwoman Silvia Breher on Tuesday South German newspaper. We are therefore already “in close contact with the Union-run federal states”.
The criticism from Bavaria is even clearer. “The current concept is not sustainable for Bavaria,” said Family Minister Ulrike Scharf (CSU) of the SZ. This makes it clear that basic child welfare in its current form has no chance of gaining a majority in the Federal Council.
There were also violent conflicts with the Union when it came to citizens’ money
The law on basic child security requires approval in the state chamber. For a majority in the Federal Council, the traffic light coalition also needs votes from state governments with Union participation. When it came to citizens’ money, the same constellation led to a heated dispute between the traffic light coalition and the Union last autumn and to some changes to the reform.
Basic child security is intended to bundle state aid such as child benefit, immediate child allowance for poorer families and benefits for children in citizen’s benefit. Families should be able to submit applications more easily and be made aware of their right to support. Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) wants to achieve more equal opportunities; according to her, 2.9 million poor children or children at risk of poverty would benefit from the law. The federal government wants to pass the draft law this Wednesday.
CDU Vice President Breher said that according to the draft known so far, families’ access to benefits will be “easier in some cases, but more difficult in many other cases.” This means that basic child security will not, as Family Minister Paus often announced, become a debt owed by the state, thanks to which the help will automatically arrive in the account. “Benefits will continue to be dependent on applications.”
Just a “poorly thought out administrative reform”?
The administrative effort will not be reduced either, criticized Breher, who is also the family policy spokeswoman for the Union parliamentary group. This can be clearly seen from the costs listed in the draft law. The Federal Employment Agency incurred additional expenditure of 408 million euros for the implementation of basic child welfare, which could further increase in the coming years.
When asked, the North Rhine-Westphalia state government under Hendrik Wüst (CDU) said that, as is usual in such cases, they would only take a position on basic child security “in advance” of the Federal Council meeting on basic child security. Bavaria’s Family Minister Scharf, on the other hand, has already said: “The planned bundling of services will create a new bureaucratic monster and not a real improvement for families.” The bill is not the promised major breakthrough to permanently prevent child poverty, “but rather a poorly thought-out administrative reform.”