migration
Traffic light dispute over payment card: Rhine demands word of power
“The Chancellor must now speak out in favor of a realpolitik course for the traffic light on migration,” says Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
The first states are introducing payment cards for refugees – but the SPD, Greens and FDP in the Bundestag are still arguing about the legal basis. Hesse’s CDU head of government sees the Chancellor as responsible.
In the traffic light dispute over how to proceed with the planned payment card for asylum seekers, Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein received a word of power from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and accused the Greens of blocking it.
“The Chancellor must now speak out in favor of a realpolitik course for the traffic lights on migration,” said the CDU politician to the German Press Agency. The payment card is an important step “to reduce incentives for irregular migration, prevent misuse of asylum benefits and combat smugglers.”
Crucial point in the dispute
The crux of the current dispute between the government factions is the question of whether a federal regulation is necessary or at least sensible for the introduction of the card. Representatives of the FDP and SPD factions spoke out in favor of this in Berlin on Saturday – but the Greens in the Bundestag consider the existing legal options to be sufficient. FDP parliamentary group vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki even threatened to break up the coalition.
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 refugees from transferring money to smugglers or to their family or friends abroad.
Expand legal basis
The deputy parliamentary group leader of the FDP, Konstantin Kuhle, demanded on Saturday that the federal government should expand the legal basis for the use of payment cards. “This includes, for example, removing the priority of cash benefits for accommodation outside of reception facilities. This makes payment cards usable in more constellations and thus makes their nationwide introduction easier,” said Kuhle to the German Press Agency and the “Tagesspiegel”.
The SPD domestic politician Sebastian Hartmann said that the Federal Ministry of Labor had already provided a formulation that was ready for decision. “This is about a uniform federal framework. The administrative burden on municipalities must be reduced through cost-effective, uniform models,” he explained.
“Green Party payment card blockade”
On the other hand, the deputy parliamentary group leader of the Greens, Andreas Audretsch, said: “It was a common position in the coalition that the states can introduce the payment card in a legally secure manner. Various states such as Hamburg and Bavaria are already doing this. Changes are therefore not necessary and not agreed. We are not available for chaos, distraction debates and bad management from the Chancellery.”
CDU Prime Minister Rhein instead spoke of a “payment card blockade by the Greens” that was irresponsible. It is directed “against an important measure to regulate and limit irregular migration.”