Before a decision in the Bundesrat: Why Söder wants to block citizen money

CSU boss Söder has described the citizen’s income as “socially unfair” and announced a no from Bavaria in tomorrow’s vote in the Bundesrat. What Söder hopes for and what he expects from the SPD leader, he said in the Report from Berlin.

Citizens’ income as a replacement for Hartz IV is one of the central projects of the traffic light coalition. The Bundestag has already approved the law, and the vote in the Bundesrat will follow on Monday. A rejection is expected there, because the Union does not want to support the plans and has the necessary majority for a blockade with 39 votes in the state chamber.

“Each state has to decide for itself,” said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder Report from Berlin. Bayern will not agree, however, “because we are happy to be in favor and can well imagine increasing the standard rates, but overall the direction is simply wrong.”

His assessment is: “Those who work must have more than those who don’t work. And it must also be clear that there must also be sanctions for someone who can work but does not want to work.”

A majority of Germans are fundamentally skeptical about citizen income, said Söder. Therefore, the “socially unjust project” should not be implemented or significantly improved. The conciliation procedure is well suited for this, “there can only be something better out of it”.

What happens if the Federal Council does not agree?

If it comes as expected by observers, the Federal Council will reject the citizen’s income in the previous form and initiate a mediation process. Sixteen members each of the Bundestag and Bundesrat are looking for a compromise. Once an agreement has been reached, both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat must agree to it again.

But there doesn’t seem to be much room for rapprochement. Because the Union only agrees to an increase in the current standard rate of 449 euros for single people to 502 euros.

However, the Union rejects the other components of citizen income, such as fewer sanctions and higher protective assets. The “so-called citizen money” is the way to an unconditional basic income from tax funds, criticized CDU leader Friedrich Merz. With the reform, the federal government is carrying out a complete system change in labor market policy, he told the “Welt am Sonntag”. Compromises are difficult.

Time is running out

But time is running out if the citizen’s income is to be introduced as planned on January 1st. “We need clarity before the Federal Council meeting on November 25 so that the employment agency can prepare everything to pay out the citizen’s allowance from January,” said the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer.

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) was ready for changes to citizen income. “We are going openly into a mediation process,” Lindner told the “RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland”. He is willing to negotiate about anything. On the question of spare assets, however, Lindner said it would be “inhumane” if a person who had worked all his life and was no longer able to work at the end of 50 due to a stroke of fate had to use up all his savings immediately. “We give him two years to overcome the life crisis and to qualify,” said the FDP boss.

The parliamentary manager of the FDP, Johannes Vogel, made a similar statement in the Report from Berlin. His party is “ready to talk, even in a mediation process”. There is leeway, for example, in the case of protective assets.

Söder demands an apology from Klingbeil

The sharp words of SPD leader Lars Klingbeil show how heated the dispute between Ampel and Union was recently. He had recently attacked Merz and Söder and accused them of dividing society through fake news. Anyone who follows Donald Trump’s path has no place in the political center of this country.

When asked about this, Söder was outraged: “Mr. Klingbeil should apologize quickly for such a serious derailment”. Söder attested to the Social Democrats “total weakness, aggression and insecurity”. “I’m worried about what’s in store for us in the coming months.”