Before the conciliation procedure for the planned citizens’ income, the FDP sends compromise signals to the Union. “It’s no good if everyone stays up in the air,” said FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr to the newspapers of the Funke media group before the talks in the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat. On Monday, the planned social reform of the traffic light coalition, with which Hartz IV is to be replaced in its current form, did not find a majority in the Bundesrat.
According to Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat is to meet on the subject next Wednesday.
“It will meet next week, probably on November 23,” said Heil (SPD) of the German Press Agency on the sidelines of a citizens’ dialogue in Magdeburg. It is planned that the state chamber will agree on November 25th, so that the new set of rules can come into force as planned on January 1st. “That must be our goal,” said Heil. The date had already emerged, among other things, the “Business Insider” reported about it.
Heil did not comment on possible compromises in terms of content. A compromise is possible, but the concrete points should be negotiated in the mediation committee. “I’m going in there confidently.” If it’s about finding a factual solution and not about “playing party tactical games,” that will also succeed, according to the SPD politician.
Dürr: Union spreads “fairy tales”
Dürr said the Union was spreading “fairy tales if it presented the first six months as a sanction-free period”. Only certain sanction options should be eliminated, which would have no relevance at the beginning of the reference anyway. The aim is to reduce bureaucracy. “But if the Union needs this symbol, I’m open to maintaining sanction options.”
The Union had opposed the planned “trust period” of six months, during which recipients of citizen benefit are hardly threatened with cuts in benefits in the event of misconduct. However, Dürr ruled out increasing only the amounts of the current Hartz IV rates, as the Union leaders had demanded. “If we only increase the standard rates, as the Union wants, we reduce the incentive to take up work,” said the FDP politician.
FDP: Like to talk to the Union
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai said in the early start of RTL / ntv: “If the Union thinks there are ways to tighten sanctions, to make this system of citizen money more efficient, then we are very happy to be there with the Union to talk about that.” You can also negotiate about additional income opportunities and further qualification measures. There are “large intersections” with the Union. The FDP has already sharpened the first draft of the SPD Labor Minister Hubertus Heil.
Heil had called on all sides to be open to a compromise. According to his will, such an agreement should already be passed in the state chamber on November 25th, so that the new set of rules can come into force as planned on January 1st. It became apparent that the mediation committee of the Bundesrat and Bundestag is expected to decide on a compromise on November 23rd. This was reported, among other things, by “Business Insider”.
Bavarian conditions
Bayern drew clear red lines. After a cabinet meeting in Munich, Bavaria’s Minister for Social Affairs and Labor, Ulrike Scharf (CSU), named three points that “make citizen income unacceptable to us”. “The fact that there are almost no sanctions is unacceptable,” stressed Scharf.
In addition, the minister mentioned the so-called trust period, i.e. the first half year of receipt, in which the unemployed should in future be put under less pressure by a threatened withdrawal of benefits. Furthermore, Bavaria is bothered by the high level of property exemptions that people are granted in the first two years of receiving citizen income.
CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja emphasized on Twitter: “Our hand remains outstretched.” The CDU wants to increase the standard rates and get people to work as quickly as possible.
“There must be no doubt that sanctions can be imposed right from the start,” said the parliamentary director of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei, who is a member of the mediation committee of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
Child Protection Association criticizes Union
The Child Protection Association criticized the Union-led countries for blocking citizen income. “The Union’s refusal to grant citizen income is indecent,” said the President of the Child Protection Association, Heinz Hilgers, to the editorial network Germany. In the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”, the joint general association called on the federal and state governments to come to a quick agreement.
According to the RTL/ntv trend barometer, 54 percent of Germans believe that the unemployed will be better off than those with low incomes who are employed. 38 percent don’t think so.
