The test operation will start at the end of March and will severely limit cash payments to refugees in Bavaria. The state government is defending itself against accusations that the project stigmatizes people and does not work in practice. But open questions remain.
The Bavarian state government has once again defended its course of introducing a payment card for asylum seekers more quickly and with stricter conditions than other federal states. “We are convinced that we need this card in Bavaria as quickly as possible. The federal government, with 14 federal states, has only now decided that it actually wants such a card,” said Interior State Secretary Sandro Kirchner (CSU) in an interview with the Mainpost. The Free State, on the other hand, is already “much further along”, namely in the middle of the procurement process. The map is scheduled to launch in four pilot municipalities at the end of March: Günzburg, Fürstenfeldbruck, Traunstein and Straubing. The locations are deliberately located in the south of Bavaria because short distances are needed in the pilot phase. The measure will then be implemented throughout Bavaria in the course of the second quarter.