After laborious controversies, the federal government agreed to introduce a payment card for asylum seekers and to regulate this in a federal law, despite the Greens’ reservations. That’s what she found out Southgerman newspaper on Thursday from coalition circles. Accordingly, a draft law from the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has been sent to the departments for coordination; The cabinet is expected to decide on it by circulation on Friday. According to SZ information, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Economics Minister Robert Habeck are said to have outlined a compromise that the Green party can support.
The compromise stipulates that the payment card comes under federal law, but that employed people, trainees and students should be exempt from it. In the dispute between the Greens and the FDP over the question of who should get a chip card instead of cash and for how long, the coalition would be a step further. The card should also explicitly be only one of several options; Cash benefits should not be explicitly excluded. The specific design of the respective payment cards should continue to be the responsibility of the states. In addition to the departmental vote, there is now an “explicit mandate for further examinations and discussions,” says the deputy leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, Andreas Audretsch. “We will carry out these checks.”
The Greens had previously spoken out vehemently against federal regulation. The payment card itself is controversial within the party. It is intended to replace most of the cash that asylum seekers are entitled to and ensure that less money is transferred to countries of origin in the future. The Greens agreed with the plan in principle, but objected that a federal law was not necessary – after all, the introduction had already begun in Hamburg and was about to begin in Bavaria. The city of Hanover has also already introduced a type of payment card. However, on Tuesday, Green Party leader Omid Nouripour made it clear that “we will of course look at this carefully together and get it underway” should there actually be a legal opinion that certain legal changes are necessary.
Dispute over the so-called “pull effect”
The FDP and SPD, but also a number of state governments, pushed for the project to be regulated under federal law. According to the FDP, the high social standards in Germany are a major incentive for illegal migration. This so-called “pull effect” should be weakened by reducing cash.
The Greens, on the other hand, rely on experts who say that a chip card is unlikely to have much influence on refugees’ decisions to go to Germany. But they were also against a federal regulation because the FDP wanted to further extend the card requirement, namely to asylum seekers who have already left the initial reception centers.
Controversial details still need to be clarified – if possible by next week
Even if all ministries agree to the compromise now available, the payment card is far from a done deal at the federal level. A sponsoring law must also be found in which the project can be anchored, coalition circles said. It would be conceivable that the payment card would be regulated in the planned “Law to adapt data transfer regulations in immigration and social law”. It is intended to accelerate the exchange of information between authorities and in the Bundestag in the next week’s session.
It was not yet clear on Thursday whether this would succeed – i.e. all the still disputed details about the payment card could be clarified in the parliamentary process. At least the SPD was confident. “We are in good and constructive discussions,” said SPD parliamentary group vice-president Dirk Wiese of the SZ. “Creating legal certainty is one thing,” said Green Party deputy Audretsch, “but payment cards must not prevent people from integrating in Germany and becoming part of our society, especially if they live here permanently.”
Next Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Conference will deal with the payment card. From faction circles in Berlin we hear that an agreement was definitely wanted to be reached in advance, at least in the government. 14 of the 16 federal states had already agreed on common standards for payment cards at the end of January; Only Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are planning to introduce a separate chip card with its own regulations.