Criticism of Paus’ bill
FDP misses “realism” in basic child benefit
17.06.2024, 03:57
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The Federal Minister for Family Affairs wants to launch basic child benefit on January 1, but the coalition partners are picking apart the current draft law. An SPD expert no longer believes that the Greens’ prestige project will be introduced in one go.
In the struggle between the traffic light coalition and the planned basic child benefit, the SPD and FDP have reiterated their reservations about the proposals made by Family Minister Lisa Paus of the Greens. “It has become clear that the current draft law in its current form is not viable,” said SPD parliamentary group vice-chair Sönke Rix to the “Rheinische Post”. The SPD, Green and FDP parliamentary groups are currently negotiating intensively. “Due to the complexity of the project and the numerous pitfalls, we have no choice but to introduce basic child benefit in several steps.”
The deputy FDP parliamentary group leader Gyde Jensen said that the negotiations were so complex because Paus had started the political process with “only a rough idea”. “First we discussed unrealistic sums, then unnecessary structures and only slowly are we finally talking about the instruments that could help overcome child poverty.” There is hardly a political project in the coalition agreement “on which we are making such difficult progress – especially because the willingness to compromise and the necessary realism are lacking,” said Jensen.
Paus plans to start in January
The SPD family politician Rix argued that parliamentarians see it as their responsibility to “discuss and develop alternative solutions”. The draft law on basic child benefit has been in the parliamentary process for months. The federal cabinet approved the draft last autumn, but since then many questions have remained unanswered and the traffic light coalition has repeatedly argued publicly about details. According to Paus’s wishes, the project should come into effect on January 1, 2025. Whether this will succeed and in what form is currently completely unclear.
The basic child benefit is considered the Greens’ social prestige project. The basic child benefit is considered the Greens’ social prestige project. The social reform is intended to bundle existing benefits such as child benefit, benefits from the citizen’s allowance for children or the child supplement. The cabinet approved the draft last autumn. The sticking points are in particular the implementation, the necessary job requirements and the incentives that could be created by the new system. The FDP fears that the basic child benefit could make it less attractive for poorer families to pursue gainful employment. Better levers against child poverty are daycare places, better support in schools, language support and jobs for parents, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner recently told the Funke newspapers.