Criticism of the traffic light decision
CDU sees basic child protection as a “deceptive package”
08/28/2023 3:29 p.m
Vice Chancellor Habeck describes the agreement on basic child security as a “significant step”. But neither economic institutes nor social organizations are satisfied. The Union in particular blames the previous dispute between the coalition partners as “evidence of the disruption”.
The Union sharply criticized the agreement reached by the coalition on child protection during the night. “In my view, the largest socio-political project, as Ms. Paus called it, has become the largest social and family policy sham,” said deputy CDU chairwoman Silvia Breher at a press conference in Berlin. There are “only questions, but no answers”. Among other things, Breher criticized that the draft would create double structures and that the application procedures would become more complicated. Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus should also “validate her figures first”. For the Union, the project in the form presented is not capable of approval. She counters this with her own proposal for a “children’s future package”.
CSU regional group chief Alexander Dobrindt criticized the traffic light government’s compromise on the introduction of the planned basic child security as “testimony to the disruption of the traffic light”. “The dispute dominates the traffic light policy, content degenerates into a minor matter,” explained Dobrindt in Berlin. While Family Minister Lisa Paus applauds basic child security as one of the greatest socio-political reforms in recent years, Finance Minister Christian Lindner emphasizes that it is only a matter of merging existing benefits and that there is no general increase in benefits. “It’s the opposite of unity and togetherness.”
Previous benefits such as child benefit, benefits from the citizen benefit for children or the child allowance are to be bundled in the basic child security. The Greens and the FDP had been arguing hard about the funding for months and finally came to an agreement that night.
“Little more than a drop in the ocean”
The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) sees the federal government’s agreement on basic child security as a “missed opportunity”. “The negotiated solution for basic child security is a disappointing compromise,” said DIW President Marcel Fratzscher. The additional 2.4 billion euros are “little more than a drop in the ocean, which brings hardly any substantial alleviation of child poverty in Germany”. The compromise is “a missed opportunity to significantly reduce child poverty in Germany and to prevent enormous follow-up costs for the state and economy,” said the economist. “The fact that the federal government would rather grant 6.5 billion euros in tax breaks for companies, but only spends 2.4 billion euros on combating child poverty, clearly shows where the priorities of the federal government lie.”
In the opinion of the Federal Minister of Economics and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, however, basic child security is a “big, important step”. “It is a system change and will help many children out of the poverty trap. That is also economically necessary,” said Habeck after the end of the month-long dispute between the traffic light parties about the project.
The system will now be simpler, faster and more accessible, all important services for children will be bundled and there will also be performance improvements. “Precisely because the previous system was so confusing and complex, the negotiations on the matter were complicated,” says Habeck. He praised Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus for having negotiated the project “very well”. “It is a great achievement that the government is now jointly launching this important socio-political reform,” said Habeck.
Numbers for recalculation “thimble”
The social association VdK has criticized the agreement reached by the coalition on basic child security. “A mini-reform was presented today as the big hit, but the overall volume and the details behind it are more than disappointing,” explained VdK President Verena Bentele. “It is obvious that the traffic light coalition underestimated the basic child security.”
The figures, which the coalition sells as a recalculation of the socio-economic subsistence level, are “thinny”. There are minor improvements for single parents, but there will be no fundamental improvement. The promised automatic payment for the child guarantee amount is nothing more than the previous procedure for child benefit. “Everything that families are entitled to must continue to be applied for,” said Bentele. “The coalition could not or did not want to agree on more.”