Status: 11/11/2022 09:10 a.m
The dispute seems deadlocked: the traffic light coalition has brought the citizens’ money through the Bundestag, but in the Bundesrat the Union continues to threaten a blockade. CSU boss Söder has reaffirmed this attitude.
After the Bundestag decision for a new citizens’ allowance, the dispute over the project of the traffic light coalition continues. Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder threatened to block the law in the Bundesrat, underscoring the Union’s position. “The citizen’s income cannot be approved in the Bundesrat,” said the CSU chairman to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
As a reason, Söder said: “The basic income disadvantages the lower income groups who have to work hard: cashiers, hairdressers, bus drivers, police officers who try to make ends meet every day – and in the end have to realize that not working is almost as lucrative as Work. It’s unfair,” he said.
Söder wants to remove standard rates from the law
On Thursday, the Bundestag launched the citizens’ allowance planned by the traffic light coalition with the majority of the SPD, Greens and FDP. The Union in particular had vehemently rejected the law in advance because there would then be no significant difference in income between people with basic income and low earners. From the point of view of the Union, it also reduces the motivation to accept a job.
The traffic light plans for citizen income include an increase in the current standard rate of 449 euros for single people to 502 euros. The CDU and CSU had proposed supporting the increase, but removing it from the Citizens’ Income Act so that it could come into force as an individual measure on January 1st. The traffic light refuses. Söder is now campaigning again for a split in the law: “It is incomprehensible that the traffic light is closed to this,” he said.
Ramelow criticizes “partisan ego” in debate
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow criticized the behavior of the Union. It’s no longer about solutions, but about “party-political ego,” said the left-wing politician MDR current. It is an attempt to pick up what cannot be enforced in the Bundestag by blocking the state bank. “And I think that’s taking all recipients of these benefits hostage,” Ramelow said.
The president of the social association VdK, Verena Bentele, warned of a further delay. “It would be shabby if the introduction of citizen income in the Bundesrat were further delayed or even stopped,” she told the “Rheinische Post”. Bentele pointed out that there had been no more adjustments to the Hartz IV standard rates because of the planned citizens’ allowance. Seven million people on minimum social security would not know what to do, it would be “inhumane” to make them wait any longer, she said. “The citizens’ income must come, as planned on January 1st.”
The federal government’s Eastern Commissioner, Carsten Schneider (SPD), accused the Union of “playing off low earners against the needy and benefit recipients”. According to him, many people in East Germany in particular would benefit from the new citizen income regulations. “This is an irresponsible tactical game on the backs of many people in East Germany,” he told the “Rheinische Post” with a view to the Union.