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Child poverty statement “unspeakable”
Social associations shoot against Lindner
08/22/2023, 09:39 am
The dispute over basic child security has been dragging on for months. Now Federal Finance Minister Lindner says that immigrant children in particular are affected by poverty. There is massive criticism for this from the joint general association.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has received massive criticism from social organizations for his statement on child poverty in Germany. “I think it’s unspeakable if the finance minister is now starting to play off poor children from Germany against the children who had to flee to us with their families from the Ukraine,” said Ulrich Schneider, general manager of the Paritätisches Gesamtverband, the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”. .
Lindner had expressed doubts about the concept of basic child security from Family Minister Lisa Paus, with which the Green politician wants to combine services for families and at the same time increase them. Families who have immigrated to Germany since 2015 are particularly affected by child poverty, said the FDP politician on Sunday.
He would like to discuss how these children and young people can best be helped. “Is the best way to help them by sending more money into their parents’ accounts?” he asked. “Or isn’t it at least worthy of discussion to invest in language support, integration, the employability of parents and to equip the day-care centers and schools for the children in such a way that they can perhaps catch up on what the parents can’t do?” In addition, he was not convinced “that simply giving more money to parents necessarily improves the chances of children and young people,” he told radio station Bayern 2.
Refugees from Ukraine ensure an increase
Of course, special offers are needed for these families and it is also right that parents should be enabled to work, said Schneider. “But that shouldn’t be an argument for leaving children in poverty.” He made similar statements in the newspapers of the Funke media group. “It gives the impression that Lindner is trying to prevent basic child security as an effective tool against poverty,” he said. The head of the Education and Training Association, Gerhard Brand, also told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”: “The initiative by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is an affront to children affected by poverty.”
Figures from the Federal Employment Agency (BA) actually show an increase in the number of foreign children who receive Hartz IV or citizen benefits. While their number was around 305,000 in December 2010, it was around 884,000 in December 2022. According to the BA, around 275,500 Ukrainian children and young people were the largest group to receive citizen benefits in March 2023. By far the second largest group were children and young people from Syria. Unlike asylum seekers, Ukrainian war refugees have direct access to the German social system, which explains the recent sharp increase. However, the trend was already evident before the Russian attack on Ukraine, for example with Syrian refugees.
The BA numbers go back to an AfD request. It also shows that in the period from 2010 to 2022 the number of children and young people with a German passport who received the corresponding social benefits fell: from around 1.37 million in December 2010 to around 895,000 in December 2022. The value for March 2023 is 1.02 million according to the BA.
It needs a quick fix
The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, said on Monday evening on WDR: “No one would doubt that integration into the labor market is the best method, that parents earn well, that their children do not live in poverty.” At the same time, he made it clear that this is a long process, but that children affected by poverty need solutions now and not just in a few years.
Last week, the DIW, together with Diakonie Germany, presented a study on the consequences of child poverty. Accordingly, children affected by poverty have a higher risk of developing health problems and becoming unable to work than children from economically strong families.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at an event organized by the news portal “The Pioneer” on Monday evening that, in her view, basic child security is an “enormously important project” especially in these times. Unlike other countries, there is “hidden poverty” in Germany. That does not mean that people have to starve, but that participation is not possible. FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai told the editorial network Germany that it was about more efficiency “and not always about more money”. Families and children with a migration background in particular need objective support, said Djir-Sarai.