“fake news”
“The path of Donald Trump”: SPD leader Klingbeil takes on the Union in the citizen money dispute
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil at his party’s debate convention in Berlin: The Union “has no longer any place in the political center of this country.”
© Christophe Gateau / DPA
The dispute over the citizens’ income planned by the traffic light is being conducted with increasingly tough bandages. Now SPD party leader Klingbeil is attacking Markus Söder and Friedrich Merz head-on.
It should only be the prelude to long and loud discussions in Berlin. The tone intensified in the debate about the citizen allowance planned by the traffic light coalition for January 1 as a successor to Hartz IV. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil accuses the Union of wanting to divide society. “Those who earn little are being played off against those who are currently dependent on the state,” he said at an SPD party event on Saturday.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil defends citizen money
Background: Leading politicians in the Union had repeatedly sharply criticized the government’s plans in recent weeks. The planned citizens’ benefit as a replacement for unemployment benefit II did not provide any financial incentive to take up paid work. “Those who work must have more than those who can work and don’t do it,” explained CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja in the “Tagesspiegel”. Party leader Friedrich Merz, CSU boss Markus Söder and several others blew the same horn.
Alone: The facts speak against the claims of the Union. Single adults are to receive 502 euros per month in the future (after receiving unemployment benefit I). Anyone who works 40 hours a week full-time in Germany receives a gross total of around 1,900 euros thanks to the minimum wage of 12 euros per hour. Net remain – depending on the tax class and living conditions – around 1400 euros, significantly more than the citizen’s income. In addition, low-income earners can also claim other social benefits from the state, such as housing or child benefit. However, potential recipients of citizen’s income also receive further state funds, for example for housing. In a recent study, the German Trade Union Confederation also came to the conclusion that working would continue to be worthwhile if the citizens’ allowance came.
Christian Linder warns Union against “shabby competition”
“Fake news,” Klingbeil called the Union’s claims. It is a party “that lies under Markus Söder and Friedrich Merz with the aim of dividing society”. And: “Anyone who behaves like this, who follows Donald Trump’s path of spreading fake news, who believes that the country must be divided, has no place in the political center of this country.” FDP boss Lindner also got involved in the debate. He warned the CDU and CSU in the “Welt” against a “sleazy competition”. He regrets the “populist impulse” of the Union.
The Union also criticizes the higher protective assets that should not be touched. “If people slipped into the cover due to a stroke of fate, they shouldn’t have to eat what they might have built up over decades,” said Lindner.
In addition to the Bundestag, the citizens’ income bill must also pass the Bundesrat. Here, however, the Union could block – further debates are programmed.
Sources: Speech Lars Klingbeil on Youtube, Christian Lindner in “Welt am Sonntag”, Mario Czaja in the “Tagesspiegel”, German trade union federation on citizen income, Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on the planned citizens’ allowance, Draft of the federal government on citizen incomenews agencies DPA and AFP