“Wrong idea”
Ex-employee of Paus opposes basic child protection
April 11, 2024, 10:52 a.m
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Basic child welfare is an important project for the Greens, but it threatens to fail due to resistance from the FDP. Now even a former employee of Family Minister Paus is turning against it. Administration is not simplified in this way.
A former head of department from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has severely criticized the planned basic child support. “Basic child security is the wrong idea. Quite simply, ideally automatically, and at the same time targeted, such a benefit cannot exist,” said Franziska Vollmer “Tagesspiegel”. The lawyer worked in the Family Ministry from 1999 to the beginning of 2023, which has been led by Green Party politician Lisa Paus since April 2022. Heads of department do not belong to the highest level; above them are department heads and state secretaries.
“Many experts who were once in favor of basic child welfare now think this way,” the newspaper quoted Vollmer as saying. “Anyone who wants to give families more money can do so within the existing system. And anyone who wants to simplify administration will unfortunately actually achieve the opposite with basic child welfare, despite their best intentions.”
For the Greens, basic child welfare is the most important social project of this legislative period. It should provide benefits for children simplify and bundle. It consists of a basic amount that should be the same for all children and an additional amount that is based on the parents’ income. Payments that were previously calculated separately are to be combined – i.e. child benefit, child allowance, citizen’s benefit and social assistance for children.
The state should be held accountable
This should make it easier for parents to get the benefits they are entitled to. Minister Paus wants to blame the state. The fact that 5,000 new jobs and a separate authority would have to be created was met with widespread criticism. The Greens are now saying there could be fewer jobs.
The fact that there would be a new authority would also run counter to the goal of reducing the bureaucratic burden on parents. If citizens’ benefit recipients then had to go there to apply for basic child welfare instead of citizens’ benefit for their children, they would have to go to two offices instead of one. The ministry promises that the application can be submitted digitally.
“I believe that all of us who have been committed to combating child poverty for a long time have to be honest. The idea of a simple and at the same time very targeted service just for children simply cannot be put into practice,” Vollmer told the “Tagesspiegel”. According to the newspaper, the lawyer was responsible for basic child security.
There has been a dispute with the FDP for a year
Basic child security is not a done deal. The parliamentary groups in the Bundestag are currently discussing the draft law. The Federal Employment Agency has already announced that the original start date of January 1, 2025 cannot be maintained for practical reasons.
The Greens and the FDP in particular have been arguing about basic child welfare for a year. The Liberals see this primarily as a digitalization project that is intended to make it easier for families to access benefits. But they didn’t want to increase the payments. FDP leader Christian Lindner has said several times that there is a connection between child poverty and immigration. Many children live in poverty because their foreign parents don’t have a job. Qualifications and language courses are therefore the better way to combat child poverty.