Dhe Bundestag has decided to convert the Hartz IV basic security into a citizen’s allowance. On Thursday, 385 MPs voted in favor of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP, with 261 votes against and 33 abstentions. The Union had announced a rejection.
The unemployment benefit II introduced in 2005 will thus be replaced by a citizen’s benefit, even if the Bundesrat agrees. The state chamber will discuss this on Monday in a special session. The federal government is preparing for a mediation process. Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) expressed the hope that an accelerated procedure could still bring it into force at the beginning of the year.
The reform also provides for a significant increase in monthly payments. A single adult should in future receive 502 euros a month for living expenses and thus 53 euros more. The standard rates for couples and children are also increasing. The Federal Employment Agency has warned that the payment of the increase at the beginning of the year is not guaranteed if it is not clear by the end of November. In October, 5.33 million adults and children were entitled to Hartz IV payments. This also includes refugees from Ukraine.
The reform will cost billions
Significant additional expenditure is associated with the reform. In the draft law, they are estimated at around 4.8 billion euros for 2023 and will rise to almost 5.9 billion euros by 2026. The federal government bears the vast majority of this. The reform is intended to make it easier for the unemployed to be placed in the labor market, including through more qualification and further training. The opportunities for additional earnings with lower deductions from citizen income are also being expanded.
The Union wants to support the increase in payments. Above all, she rejects the planned increase in the so-called protective assets. The needy do not have to touch these financial reserves if they want to receive citizen benefits. Union deputy faction leader Hermann Gröhe spoke in the Bundestag of a central flaw in the reform. A family of four could have 150,000 euros and still receive basic income, said Gröhe: “The majority of employees can only dream of such a fortune.” The coalition is thus endangering the chances of finding a job.
At the request of the Union, the vote on increasing the standard rates was decoupled before the final vote. The Bundestag voted almost unanimously with 681 yes and no votes with two abstentions for the increases.
The mediation committee could decide
The federal government wants to call the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat if there is no majority for the social reform on Monday in the state chamber. Labor Minister Heil hopes for a quick agreement with the Union-led countries, whose approval the traffic light coalition needs: “Then we have the opportunity to ensure in a fast-track procedure that the citizen’s allowance comes into force on January 1st.”
Greens and FDP criticized Union politicians in the Bundestag for statements that working low earners would have less money in the future than those receiving citizen benefits. As a result of other state benefits such as housing benefit and child allowance, there is already no case in which working people have less than those who are not working, said the parliamentary director of the FDP, Johannes Vogel. But it must be more worthwhile to work instead of receiving citizen money. The reform achieves this by expanding the possibilities for additional earnings. Green party leader Britta Haßelmann attacked opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU), who did not speak in the debate. Merz “stokes up social envy without end,” said Hasselmann: “But here in Parliament he is pinching today.”
