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Citizens’ money savings plucked out of thin air? Criticism of Salvation’s Ministry
Hubertus Heil: The Labor Minister wants to tighten the sanctions for the so-called “total refusers”.
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There is criticism of the planned cuts in citizens’ benefits: the Ministry of Labor cannot comprehensibly explain how much money can actually be saved. A request that… star is available exclusively, now reinforces this accusation.
The budget for the current year is due to be finalized on Thursday, with some delay. The housekeepers in The Bundestag meets for a settlement meeting. After that, the 2024 budget should be in place – debt-controlled and constitutional.
Since the Constitutional Court’s ruling, over 17 billion euros had to be deleted from the draft. The traffic light government wants to plug the hole with a hodgepodge of austerity measures. Fewer subsidies for farmers, cuts in development cooperation – and expenses should also be saved on the Hartz IV successor, citizen’s money.
Many of the cuts were met with opposition. Who wants to give up money? When it comes to citizens’ money, however, the criticism is also of a technical nature. Many believe that the statement that the tightening of sanctions proposed by Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) could actually save 170 million euros is a stretch. For example, CDU politician Kai Whittaker: “Can this save EUR 170 million? That’s doubtful,” he writes on X (formerly Twitter).
Citizens’ money: “Total refusers” should be punished more severely
The left-wing politician Matthias W. Birkwald asked how exactly the ministry arrived at the number. He is horrified by the response from the ministry: “The federal government no longer even tries to justify its decisions in a comprehensible way,” the MP told the star.
What’s the matter? Specifically, the sanctions for so-called “total refusers” are to be tightened. If people on basic social security for the unemployed “willingly” refuse to take up “reasonable work”, their standard rate should be completely canceled for two months in the future – only the housing costs would continue to be paid in this case.
From the answer that the star It is clear that the ministry cannot say how many people this would actually affect – because this has not yet been recorded. Overall, the proportion of those able to work who were sanctioned was 0.5 percent in September 2023. However, this 0.5 percent also includes people who, for example, missed an appointment several times – but would not be affected by the new, tougher sanctions. “So far there has not been a category of so-called work refusers, so no specific number of people can be named,” writes the ministry.
Left-wing politician: “The savings effects were estimated completely in the dark”
The savings are therefore “an estimate based on the previously known sanctions” and also “a major preventive effect of the new regulation”. According to the ministry, this lies in the fact that “ideally, people and all members of their community of need do not become or remain needy in the first place because they do not reject reasonable job offers in the future or do not give up their work beforehand.”
Left-wing politician Birkwald suspects that such indirect effects “in the form of a deterrent effect” can hardly be seriously estimated. And now it has been confirmed: After all, even when asked, the ministry did not provide any calculation basis for this.
For the MP it is clear: “The answer to my written question sounds like a mockery: the savings are the result of an estimate, but the underlying figures are not available.” His verdict: “The savings effects were completely underestimated.” This also means: It is quite possible that the government will end up saving significantly less money through this new regulation than it is now claiming.