Commentary on parental allowance: A step backwards for equality

The dispute in the traffic light coalition continues: now the Greens and the FDP are arguing about parental allowance. The federal government cannot afford to go backwards when it comes to equality.

Finally, one could be happy, the cabinet has finally agreed on a budget. Now you could breathe a sigh of relief and just be relieved that the months of struggle for cuts and the right prioritization in the traffic light coalition is over.

But that would be too soon. Because the mudslinging in the traffic light government has only just begun. After debates about basic child security, defense spending and the modernization of the railways, the traffic light coalition is now tearing itself apart on the subject of parental allowance.

Meanwhile, the Greens and the FDP don’t even bother to fight for money behind closed doors and insult each other. No, the dispute is now being carried out publicly – at the expense of many people and above all: parents.

Green tit-for-tat direction FDP

Family Minister Lisa Paus’s consideration of no longer paying parental allowance to higher earners is a tit-for-tat return to Finance Minister Christian Lindner and the FDP clientele. True to the motto: If they should pay, they’re doing too well.

The Greens know that it is a step backwards in terms of equality and that in the end it is very likely that women will be left behind. They grudgingly accept it. The fact that above all the so-called higher earners with their high tax rates ensure that the household coffers are filled is only acknowledged.

Further division of society

But even the FDP is not covering itself with glory when it points to the Greens and is outraged at how parental benefits can now be reduced, especially for academic households. After all, it was the FDP-led Ministry of Finance that proposed a general reduction in parental allowance and thus put the Minister for Family Affairs under pressure.

In the end, this distribution dispute only creates another division in society and a step backwards on the issue of equality. In other words, what the traffic light government doesn’t want right now – and after the crisis years it can’t afford either.