2023-09-07 20:09:21
After the months-long financing dispute over basic child welfare between Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), things should actually happen very quickly: The draft law, which the Family Minister had presented at the behest of Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the end of August, should be passed as early as Wednesday next week , to be decided by the Federal Cabinet. Countries and associations had until September 6th to submit their statements on the complex reform project, with which the minister wants to initiate a “paradigm change” in the receipt of state transfer benefits for children.
But the cabinet decision probably won’t happen that quickly. The federal government does not want to commit to a specific date. We are “on schedule,” said a government spokesman. But there is still a need for testing in the departments – not only in Lindner’s house, but also in Hubertus Heil’s (SPD) Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. A spokesman for Lindner assured that the draft would be examined “as quickly as possible”.
At the end of August, the Finance Minister and Heil, together with Paus, presented an agreement on basic child security. There was also a paper in which common points were outlined on three and a half pages. However, the draft bill has around 120 pages in the version that was sent to the states and associations.
CSU speaks of a “bureaucratic monster”
The FDP family politician Martin Gassner-Herz says: “This request for a small extension of the departmental vote is not worth causing a stir.” The political agreement is in place. There may still be a need for clarification at interfaces to other services, for example for children and young adults with disabilities or for separated families. A careful review is more useful for the overall schedule “than risking emergency repairs later.” The first reading in the Bundestag is scheduled to take place in the second week of October. The Federal Council must then decide. There, the traffic light coalition relies on votes from countries in which the Union parties are involved in the government.
For the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, basic child welfare in its current version is not acceptable. Silvia Breher, deputy leader of the Union parliamentary group and family policy spokeswoman, criticizes that the responsibility and expansion of family funds at the Federal Employment Agency will lead to double structures and additional burdens for families. “We clearly reject that,” says Breher.
The Berlin Senator for Youth and Family, Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU), told the FAZ that she would have wanted a significant “more” for families: “More performance, simplification and reduction in bureaucracy. That was not successful. “That’s why I will have to talk to my colleagues from the other federal states about significant improvements,” she announced. It’s about the level of performance and not well-solved interfaces to the education and participation package. The calculation models for maintenance and maintenance advances also need to be discussed. “It cannot be the case that children receive less because their single parent is not or cannot be employed,” said the CDU politician, criticizing the regulations that are intended to create incentives to work.
The Bavarian Family Minister Ulrike Scharf (CSU) complains that the planned bundling of transfer payments will create a “new bureaucratic monster and not a real improvement for families”. However, she praises the planned recalculation of the subsistence minimum for children. This is important in order to support children according to their current life situations. In order to ensure the implementation of basic child protection, the federal states, the districts and the municipalities, which are massively affected by the restructuring, must now “be involved in all further steps,” demands Scharf.
German Association of Cities and Municipalities sees no “added value”
The planned innovations in the administrative organization are “not optimal,” says the statement from the German Association of Cities and Municipalities. “From our point of view, it is not clear what simplifications and added value in the process will arise from the artificial splitting of proven structures, since families will continue to have several contacts,” complains the association. The German District Council explained that thousands of new employees would have to be hired for the new family service – but the municipalities were responsible for the largest part of the education package, and parents would continue to receive citizens’ benefit from the job center. “So far everything has been provided from a single source by the job center.” The new structure is putting too much strain on the Federal Employment Agency and the families.
Eckart Lohse, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 12 Katja Gelinsky, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 1 Reinhard Bingener, Stefan Locke and Rüdiger Soldt Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 11
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Labor and Social Affairs Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) also fears more bureaucracy. The removal of children from the citizen’s allowance is “not consistently implemented,” he notes with regard to the planned division of responsibility for educational and participation services. “The administrative burden increases here, and I don’t believe that this will simplify the process for those affected,” said Laumann, who is also federal chairman of the Christian Democratic Workers’ Association (CDA), to the FAZ. “We will still benefit the legislative process provide constructive support to the children,” promised the minister. “But of course it must not happen that the federal government passes on additional costs from the education and participation package to the states.”
Family Minister Josefine Paul (Greens) is responsible for basic child welfare in North Rhine-Westphalia. “The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia supports the establishment of basic child welfare,” said its spokesman.
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