Dispute over planned citizens’ income: Klingbeil accuses Union of “fake news”.

The dispute between the government and the Union over the planned citizens’ income is intensifying. SPD leader Klingbeil accuses the CDU and CSU of spreading lies. The FDP chairman Lindner warns the Union parties against a “shabby competition”.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has accused the Union of trying to divide society in the crisis in the dispute over citizen income. “Those who earn little are being played off against those who are currently dependent on the state,” he said in Berlin.

He accused the CDU and CSU of spreading false figures on the impact of the planned reform of the Hartz IV system. Klingbeil referred to information from the Union on the position of people receiving citizen benefits compared to employees. He pointed out that the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) had refuted the statement that non-working recipients of citizen benefits would in future have more money at their disposal than full-time employees with low incomes.

“We are currently experiencing a CDU/CSU (…) that lies under Markus Söder and Friedrich Merz with the aim of dividing society,” said Klingbeil at a debate convention of the Social Democrats. The Union is taking the “path of Donald Trump, the spread of fake news”. Anyone who behaves like this has “no longer any place in the political center of this country.”

Traffic light plans changes

The federal government wants to introduce citizen income from January and thus replace Hartz IV. Most recently, the traffic light agreed on changes to the project. Among other things, there should be some tightening of the planned two-year waiting period for beneficiaries. It is planned, for example, that the heating costs during this time should only be covered to an appropriate extent. The government’s original draft bill did not provide for a limit on reimbursement at this point. The Union had sharply criticized this and threatened to block the project in the Federal Council. She also accused the SPD of unjust citizen income.

Politicians from the CDU and CSU also criticize that the extensive waiver of sanctions against recipients reduces the incentive to take up work. They also consider the planned protective assets to be too high. It should be 60,000 euros for the actual benefit recipient in the first 24 months.

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner had previously rejected the criticism of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on the new citizens’ allowance. “I regret the populist impulse of the Union, which does not recognize that this is about life’s work,” Lindner told the “Welt am Sonntag”. Above all, he advises the Union against “entering a shabby competition” with the planned amount of the protective assets.

“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,” Lindner continued. Citizens’ income rewards additional income and qualifications, while refusal to participate is sanctioned. “The basic income does not replace Hartz IV with laxity, but with a more performance principle,” said the FDP politician.

CDU politician speaks of cosmetics

Despite the planned changes, criticism of the planned citizens’ income concept continues to come from the Union. “Our criticism remains: Citizens’ money is a departure from the principle of promoting and demanding,” said the head of the SME and Economic Union, the CDU member of the Bundestag Gitta Connemann, the dpa news agency in Berlin.

The promised adjustments did not change the substance of the citizens’ income. The new traffic light draft provides for stricter rules for recipients of citizen income, for example if they want to move to a more expensive apartment. “These are not serious changes – these are cosmetic,” said Connemann. “There are still no serious incentives to go back to work. Money should still be paid, even if there is no willingness to perform.”