Family
Greens: FDP objection to basic child protection “irritating”
There is criticism from the FDP of Family Minister Lisa Paus’s plans for basic child welfare (archive photo). photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
In particular, the planned creation of 5,000 new jobs for basic child welfare is causing dissatisfaction among the Liberals. It’s not just the finance minister who is making public criticism. The Greens are now opposing this.
The FDP and the Greens continue to argue in the traffic light coalition about plans for one Basic child protection. The deputy Green party leader Maria Klein-Schmeink countered FDP criticism of the plans of her party colleague and Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus. “The objection from the FDP parliamentary group leadership is more than irritating,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
“We are currently in parliamentary discussions and are constructively discussing with both the SPD and the FDP what changes we want to make to the draft law. It is now Parliament’s turn to make changes.”
Discontent over 5,000 new jobs
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai had called for a fundamentally revised draft law on basic child security from Paus. Other FDP politicians, including finance minister and party leader Christian Lindner, also expressed dissatisfaction with Paus’ proposal. Most recently, the focus was on creating 5,000 new jobs. Paus had explained: “The additional staff means a reduction in bureaucracy for the citizens. At the moment they are carrying the burden of bureaucracy and have to run from Pontius to Pilate.”
The FDP social politician Jens Teutrine fears that administrative costs will be even higher than the 500 million euros previously planned for the first year. “With these new plans that the family minister has now put on the table, the personnel costs would be even higher,” he told the “Tagesspiegel”. “You would need more staff, you would have to classify people higher and therefore pay them better if they have to be familiar with different social benefits.” Then we are talking about more than 750 million euros in additional administrative expenses per year. “That would be a third of the total cost of basic child welfare for more bureaucracy. Absurd.” The current plans are “not acceptable” to the FDP.
Klein-Schmeink: Bringing 3.7 million children out of hidden poverty
Klein-Schmeink emphasized that the central goal of basic child welfare is “to lift 3.7 million children out of hidden poverty.” “The fact that more staff are initially needed to combine five services into one for the first time, to digitize them and to advise families if necessary is not news. How many positions are needed in the end depends on the design of the bill.”
From 2025 onwards, the social reform is intended to bundle existing benefits such as child benefit, benefits from citizens’ benefit for children or the child allowance. Basic child welfare is considered the Greens’ prestige social policy project. The cabinet passed a bill in September with the aim of ensuring that basic child welfare comes into force on January 1, 2025. After concerns from the Federal Employment Agency and the Federal Council, the federal government announced in December that it would review the schedule