The dispute between the FDP and Family Minister Paus over the planned basic child support continues. The Liberals are calling for a fundamental overhaul, but Paus firmly rejects this.
Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus has rejected a fundamental revision of the draft law on basic child welfare requested by the FDP. “We have passed the joint draft law in the coalition,” said the Green politician ARD morning magazine. Paus made it clear that Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and they had developed the draft together.
Since the federal government passed the draft law, it has been in the parliamentary process. Work is underway to dismantle duplicate structures. The current “bureaucratic monster” means that millions of children do not receive the services to which they are entitled, the minister criticized the current situation. The coalition has agreed to reduce bureaucracy. “We do this by bundling the many different services that have been available so far into one service,” said Paus, defending the planned basic child support.
On Monday, the FDP demanded that Paus make extensive corrections to the current draft law. Several FDP politicians expressed criticism, particularly of the creation of numerous new positions planned in connection with the reform in order to accomplish the necessary restructuring. The topic is likely to be discussed this evening in the coalition committee of the traffic light parties.
Lindner: Don’t reduce the incentive to work
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Lindner again called for improvements to the draft law. The FDP leader said in the “Augsburger Allgemeine” that there should be no “disproportionate administrative burden” and no incentives for people to stop working because of higher social benefits. Both requirements “apparently do not exist” in Paus’ current draft.
Lindner referred to the around 5,000 new jobs that Paus wants to create so far to implement basic child welfare, citing the Federal Employment Agency. However, with a view to the new positions in the administration, the family minister signaled a willingness to compromise at the weekend.
The deputy FDP federal chairman Johannes Vogel also repeated the call for corrections to the reform plans. The aim of social benefits must be to reduce poverty, he said ARD morning magazine. The draft law does not yet achieve this. Vogel also criticized the fact that the current plans would create more bureaucracy: “We need less bureaucratic confusion and not more,” he emphasized.
SPD parliamentary group calls for “substantial changes”
In the dispute over basic child welfare, the SPD parliamentary group once again fundamentally supported the project. Parliamentary Secretary Katja Mast is also pushing for significant changes to the current draft law. The decisive factor must be “that the money gets to the children more easily.” “We want basic child security,” emphasized Mast. She rejected calls from the FDP for a completely new draft law. Rather, the present draft by Paus remains “the basis for consultation for the parliamentary procedure”. However, there will still have to be “substantial changes” to this draft. The SPD politician pointed out the weak points that still existed, but without becoming more specific.
Regarding the FDP’s criticism of the approximately 5,000 additional government offices, Mast said that these were necessary based on the existing draft. But she assumes “that in the end there will be fewer because we are still changing things.” For example, digitalization can still be readjusted.
Controversial funding
Basic child security is scheduled to be introduced in 2025 and is considered the biggest social reform of the traffic light coalition. It is intended to bundle child benefit, the child allowance for low-income families and social benefits for children. Family Minister Paus’s law is currently being discussed in the Bundestag, but was already controversial within the coalition before it was discussed in the Federal Cabinet last September, especially with regard to financing.