Above all, the “progress coalition” has set itself social progress: a new concept of the family, a liberal abortion law and sexual self-determination. Why is this taking so long?
When the SPD, Greens and FDP agreed on a coalition agreement in December 2021, they wanted – as the document titled – “dare more progress”. It seemed self-evident that the self-proclaimed “progress coalition” would come together primarily on socio-political issues: There is talk of “communities of responsibility” as an alternative to marriage, of the abolition of the “ban on advertising” for abortions, of better opportunities for children and of a self-determination law .
A year and a half later, many things look different in Germany: with the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, other areas came to the fore. The ministers had to think about equipping the Bundeswehr, about a secure energy supply for Germany and about taking in refugees from Ukraine. There was little room for family and social policy.
But what about the coalition’s projects, where initially the three partners seemed so effortless to agree on progress? Many laws are still being voted on – for some it is unclear when they will be implemented. An overview of the current status of basic child security, parental allowance, family start time, communities of responsibility, abortions and the Self-Determination Act:
Basic child security
According to the Green-led Ministry for Family Affairs, basic child security is “the most important socio-political project of this coalition”. The coalition agreement states that the basic child security should consist of two parts: an income-independent guaranteed amount for all children and young people and a graduated additional amount dependent on the income of the parents. According to the ministry’s plans, basic child security is to be paid out for the first time in 2025.
Family Minister Lisa Paus presented the cornerstones of basic child security back in January, but no draft law has yet been presented. The main dispute is over the financing – the Greens politician had originally estimated twelve billion euros for basic child security, but only two billion euros are planned in the budget.
Paus, who took over the Ministry of Family Affairs in April 2022 after Anne Spiegel’s resignation, finally said in the daily topics, the annual sum will be between two and twelve billion euros. At the beginning of July, the minister was optimistic that the cabinet would pass the draft law at the end of August – as Chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously requested in a letter to the Ministry for Family Affairs.
“The actual costs of basic child security, which we take as a basis in the draft law, can only be finally stated when the last substantive questions have been clarified,” said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Family Affairs at the request of tagesschau.de with. “We are currently conducting these negotiations at full speed.”
The Ministry of Family Affairs regards the two billion euros in the budget as a “note item”. It is definitely less than the amount that will be available in 2025, according to the ministry. Chancellor Scholz also made a firm commitment in his letter that basic child security would be qualitatively more than digitization and administrative reform. There should be real improvements in performance for families with children at risk of poverty.
According to the coalition agreement, when implementing basic child security, the subsistence level for children should also be recalculated. “Nothing has changed for a good 15 years. So the need is great,” explained the ministry spokeswoman. The details of the recalculation are still being negotiated.
parental allowance and family start time
Parental allowance has existed since 2007. Since its introduction, it has changed social norms and promoted societal change, according to a fact sheet from the Ministry for Family Affairs. Today, many mothers take it for granted that they will only interrupt their careers for a short period of time. “Especially mothers whose partners take parental leave for more than two months are available to the labor market more quickly,” says the ministry. “Parental allowance also makes it easier for fathers to step back professionally because of the birth of a child, since they feel more accepted today.”
In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed to simplify parental allowance, digitalize it and strengthen “joint parental responsibility”. The coalition’s goals are that the partner months for the basic parental allowance are extended by one month, that there is an entitlement for foster parents and that it is modernized for the self-employed.
“We will introduce a two-week paid leave for the partner after the birth of a child,” the traffic light coalition also announced. Minister Paus presented a draft law for this so-called family start-up period at the end of March. According to the Ministry of Family Affairs, the draft is still being coordinated by the departments.
After the Ministry of Finance had imposed a “spending-reducing reform of parental allowance” on the family department in order to save half a billion euros, Minister Paus announced that the entitlement for higher earners would be abolished. Specifically, there should be an income limit for couples with taxable income of more than 150,000 euros, for births from January 1, 2024. However, the specific introduction also depends on the parliamentary procedure – so some of the plans can still change .
The income limit is “the least bad as possible of the worst solutions,” Paus told RTL/NTV. According to the Ministry for Family Affairs, parental allowance plays a much smaller role for well-earning parents during parental leave than for mothers and fathers with lower or middle incomes. High-earning fathers also take parental leave much less frequently than the average.
communities of responsibility
SPD, Greens and FDP have also agreed to modernize family law – and also to expand the concept of the family. “We will introduce the institute of the community of responsibility and thus enable two or more adults to take legal responsibility for each other beyond romantic relationships or marriage,” says the coalition agreement.
At the beginning of 2022, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told the newspaper “Welt” that the communities of responsibility would not come until the end of 2023 at the earliest because extensive preparatory work was necessary for the draft law. The FDP politician has now announced in the newspapers of the Funke media group that he intends to present key points after the summer break. The corresponding draft law is to be introduced in the Bundestag in the coming year. The ministry is currently working on the implementation and is in exchange with other departments, said a spokesman for the ministry on request tagesschau.de with.
“Today, there is also acceptance of responsibility beyond family and romantic partnerships,” Buschmann told the newspapers of the Funke media group. He cited elderly people living together who have lost their life partners and young people in housing projects as examples. “But what happens if one of them has to go to the hospital and the other wants information about the condition? Or what rights do those involved have in relation to a joint rental apartment?” These questions have so far been tailored to traditional family relationships. “That has to change if those involved want it to.”
abortions
In June 2022, the Bundestag voted to remove Section 219a from the Criminal Code (StGB). The criminal law paragraph had previously banned “advertising for the termination of pregnancy” – but this also included information offers from doctors who perform abortions. Among other things, Giessen doctor Kristina Hänel was convicted in 2017 because she provided information about the procedure on the Internet.
There is still a dispute about Paragraph 218 of the Criminal Code, which punishes an abortion with a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine. Although there have been conditions since 1992 with Paragraph 218a, in which the penalties are suspended: the termination must take place in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, the pregnant woman must seek advice three days before the procedure and the termination must be carried out by a doctor be performed. But this still criminalizes abortion.
Minister Paus made it clear: she wants to Also abolish paragraph 218 of the Criminal Code. But there is no agreement on this in the traffic light coalition.
The federal government therefore appointed a commission on reproductive self-determination and reproductive medicine at the end of March, as provided for in the coalition agreement. The commission is to examine in one of two working groups how abortion could be regulated outside of the penal code. She should finish her work by March 2024, the Ministry of Family Affairs said on request.
The Ministry of Family Affairs is also working on taking legal action against so-called sidewalk harassment in front of pregnancy counseling centers and medical facilities. “The right to reproductive self-determination must also include that women in a pregnancy conflict have unhindered access to counseling and practice,” says the ministry.
Self-Determination Act
As a further socio-political step, the traffic light coalition undertook in the coalition agreement to abolish the currently applicable transsexual law and to replace it with a self-determination law. The gender entry in the civil status should be able to be changed by self-disclosure, information and counseling offers should be strengthened.
There is already a draft for the new self-determination law, but the federal cabinet has not yet passed it. There were a number of registration concerns from the Ministry of the Interior, Justice Minister Buschmann told the LTO news service in mid-July. “People there fear that criminals could change their gender entry in order to conceal their own identity from law enforcement agencies,” says Buschmann. However, he refutes this concern because he shares the concern. “My hope is that the draft will come into the cabinet at the end of the summer break,” said the FDP politician.
The Bundestag should finally be able to discuss the law, Buschmann told the “Rheinische Post”: “Because the project is and remains correct: we must end the degrading treatment of transgender people.” He expects the debate to be lively. “But we will make it clear once again in Parliament: the self-determination law is a project entirely in the spirit of our constitution. And it will change far less than many think.” Freedom of contract and domiciliary rights were preserved. “We attached great importance to excluding all possibilities of abuse – no matter how remote they may be,” says Buschmann.
social progress will have to wait
Conclusion: In many areas of family and social policy, where there seemed to be agreement at the start of the traffic light coalition, there is still a lot to talk about. Legislative projects that should come before the summer are still being coordinated by the departments, and some will be delayed until next year. It’s not quite half-time for the coalition yet, and other issues have meanwhile come to the fore. So there is still time to implement the projects. But the societal progress that has been so widely heralded is a long time coming.