With citizen’s money
Labor Minister Heil accuses Union of fake news
March 21, 2024, 6:05 p.m
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Federal Labor Minister Heil defends citizens’ money against criticism from the opposition. He accuses the Union of fake news. But he also sees mistakes within his own ranks.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil accuses the Union of fake news in the welfare state debate. “The conservatives claimed in the fall: Citizens’ money leads to masses of people quitting their jobs in order to claim basic security,” Heil told “Spiegel.” “The numbers showed the opposite: In contrast to the Hartz IV system, we have the lowest outflows from work into basic security.”
Heil pointed out that the CDU and CSU had introduced citizens’ money. With regard to the Union’s current proposals for welfare state reform, the Social Democrat criticized that it was “a mixture of cold coffee and a dull feeling.”
Much of what the CDU is demanding already exists, such as obligations to cooperate and sanctions. “The Union is not interested in a factual debate, but rather in creating an atmosphere,” said Heil. With Friedrich Merz, the CDU “mentally regressed to the 1980s.” The party is building on Maggie Thatcher and wants to “distribute tax gifts to very wealthy people and in return push back on social security and the rights of workers.”
Heil criticizes false debates
“The SPD is committed to ensuring that work actually pays off – through decent wages and later in retirement. We will not allow pension levels to fall and there will be no pension at 69 or 70. That would mean pension cuts for hard-working people,” said Heil.
The Labor Minister points out at various points that his party cannot benefit from the successes of the traffic light coalition in current surveys. “There have been too many public debates about trivial things, but it’s about concentrating on what’s important.” Some colleagues would bang their heads on talk shows about identity debates. Whether one can, must or should gender now. People should simply accept each other’s differences and treat each other with respect. “Gender is not the central issue of this country,” said Heil. Foreign and security policy, economic policy and the labor market are important. “This is also where the main differences lie between the SPD and the Merz-CDU,” said the Labor Minister.