Scholz criticized the Union’s long resistance to the reform. During the corona pandemic, they helped ensure that employees and the self-employed received massive state aid, said the Chancellor. “Not to take everything you have saved or your apartment right away – that made sense to all of us at the time.”
In the case of long-term unemployed, however, the Union and its parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz apparently see it differently, said Scholz. The main difference between the coalition and the Union is “obviously the image we have of the citizens of our country.”
The traffic light parties and the Union had agreed on Tuesday on a compromise on citizen income as a replacement for the previous Hartz IV system. Contrary to what was planned by the government factions, sanctions by the employment agencies in the event of breaches of duty are now possible immediately and the protective assets for recipients of citizen benefit have also been significantly reduced.
On Wednesday evening, the Mediation Committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat still has to approve the compromise. After the approval of the two chambers of parliament, the citizens’ allowance could then come into force on January 1st.
