migration
SPD politician on payment card: Greens should move
14 of 16 federal states have agreed on a joint procurement process to introduce a payment card for asylum seekers. photo
© Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa
Instead of cash for asylum seekers, a payment card without a transfer function: The federal and state governments had agreed on this, and the states have regulated the awarding of contracts. But now there is a problem in the coalition.
In the coalition dispute over a federal regulation on the planned payment card for asylum seekers, the SPD put pressure on the Greens. “We now have to provide the federal states with legal certainty when it comes to payment cards. We promised them that back in November. All parliamentary groups should now adhere to this,” said the deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese to the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”. The Saarland Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger (SPD) told the newspaper: “It must be possible to support a compromise within the traffic light coalition that is agreed between the federal government and 16 state governments of a wide variety of stripes.”
At the end of January, 14 of 16 federal states agreed on a joint procurement process to introduce a payment card for asylum seekers, which should be completed by the summer. Among other things, the card is intended to prevent migrants from transferring money to smugglers or to their family or friends abroad. The FDP argues that this is currently only possible for some asylum seekers and that cash benefits are required instead for those who live outside reception centers. A federal regulation is needed to standardize this.
Greens: “Countries have all legal options”
The Greens see no need for this. Its Parliamentary Managing Director Irene Mihalic referred to the introduction of the payment card in Hamburg and the planned introduction in Bavaria in two weeks. She told the Germany editorial network: “The states have all the legal options they need, and they are apparently being used. This has been discussed in the coalition and has also been represented by the Chancellery for months.”
Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) has different memories. “One expects reliability and rapid implementation from a joint decision by all 16 federal states with the Chancellor and the federal government. If not, the population’s trust in federal politics will be further damaged,” he told the “Bild” newspaper. Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) emphasized in the “Bild” that his state would introduce the payment card even without federal regulations.
The acting chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference, Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU), accused the Greens of a “blockade” in a conversation with the German Press Agency and demanded a word of power from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).