The traffic light coalition wants to loosen the applicable Hartz IV rules massively. By mid-2023, long-term unemployed should face almost no sanctions such as less money in the event of misconduct. So far, the government only planned to suspend the sanctions until the end of the year. The only remaining sanction will also be softened in the future, namely if the unemployed miss appointments such as job offers. The Greens pushed through these easing against the resistance of the FDP, they learned Southgerman newspaper. The SPD also had other ideas.
The sanctions have been disputed since Hartz IV, which is officially called basic security, was introduced in the mid-nineties. The traffic light coalition wants to replace the concept hated by many unemployed people next year with a citizen’s allowance that is intended to express more appreciation and less harshness. But what happens until then?
The Greens have now not only enforced that almost no sanctions will apply until July 1 of next year. The only remaining option is also greatly reduced. Previously, it was intended that long-term unemployed people could have their monthly Hartz IV payments reduced if they missed appointments at the job center. Now this should only happen if they don’t appear several times. Only then should their performance be reduced and only by ten percent. Loss of money due to failure to report is the sanction that has been imposed most frequently for years.
In a judgment in 2019, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that even stubborn refusals to work may be reduced by a maximum of 30 percent. Practitioners in the job centers have been warning for years against completely overturning the sanctions. They insist on the possibility of getting a minority of unwilling unemployed people to participate. In total, about 1.5 percent of the approximately 3.5 million Hartz IV recipients who were able to work received sanctions.
The Greens have a kind of unconditional basic income in mind, with which there should be as little pressure as possible on people. Frank Bsirske, member of the Bundestag and long-time head of the Verdi trade union, negotiated the current rules for the period up to citizen income. The fact that the Greens pushed through such loose rules until mid-2023 is apparently causing trouble in the coalition. It was only approved in order not to further worsen the already tense mood in the coalition, it is said. From the FDP it is pointed out that they have enforced something themselves: There should again be sanctions in the case of citizen money, in which up to 30 percent of the amount of money is reduced.
Experts argue that a long largely unpunished period could set a precedent. If almost all sanctions are waived by mid-2023 and failure to register is largely without consequences – can sanctions be reintroduced at all, given the reluctance of many people to do so, as soon as the citizen’s income comes?
In the past, numerous organizations have opposed a complete abolition of the sanctions – from the city council to even the Hartz-critical social association Germany, which wants to receive financial consequences as a last resort. At a hearing in March, the Federal Employment Agency said that if the sanctions were also dropped after various reliefs for Hartz IV recipients, this could be perceived as unfair. Both from other recipients of basic security who adhere to conditions, as well as from the “financing community of taxpayers”.
The conditions for basic security have recently been eased. For the time being, it will no longer be checked whether someone has assets that they could use up before they receive Hartz IV. The rent for apartments is also taken over, which is actually classified as too expensive.
It is unclear whether the government needs the approval of the CDU/CSU in the Bundesrat to relax the sanctions by mid-2023. According to the Federal Ministry of Labor, such approval is not necessary, but there are also other views. Union politicians such as parliamentary group leader Hermann Gröhe have already stated that they consider the suspension of sanctions to be wrong. This also sends the wrong signal to those long-term unemployed who have fulfilled their duty to cooperate: “This cannot be done with us”.