Press
As soon as it was introduced, citizens' money for the Union already needs reform. But citizen money spokesman Jens Teutrine (FDP) also sees a need for improvements.
Berlin – Citizens' money was considered one of the main projects in the traffic light government's coalition agreement after the 2021 federal election. By reforming basic security for job seekers, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his coalition partners wanted to replace the Hartz IV system, which has fallen into disrepute in recent years.
But almost two and a half years later, citizens' money also has an image problem. There are voices in the opposition calling for a reform of the reform. Last week the CDU presented its concept for a “new basic security”. This should replace citizens' money if the Union takes over government responsibility again after the 2024 federal election. The CDU's focus is primarily on tougher sanctions against so-called “total objectors”.
FDP citizen’s money spokesman Teutrine – Qualification quality is not the same everywhere
Jens Teutrine, spokesman for citizens' money in the FDP parliamentary group, explained in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIAthat his party is also relying on sanctions when it comes to citizens' money. However, other points are more important to the FDP politician in order to get people from the citizen's benefit back to work. Teutrine cited the quality of the qualification measures for citizens' benefit recipients as a crucial point. From the FDP politician's point of view, the traffic light coalition has written good approaches into the law, but there is still room for improvement when it comes to implementation.
“There are still further training measures where, in my opinion, the quality is not right,” said Teutrine. Here the traffic light still needs to work on the orientation of the qualification measures. As examples, the FDP politician cited a sufficient range of partial qualifications and qualification offers with a small number of hours in order to be able to support mothers more specifically, among other things. But there is also still a great need in the area of language acquisition. The traffic light coalition needs to get even better there, demanded the FDP politician.
Criticism of citizens' money is increasing – FDP wants to better align the tax system with social benefits
Teutrine mentioned the issue of wage gaps as the second central point with a view to the status quo in citizen's money. “If I could change something, it would be a better interaction between the tax system and the social benefits system. “So that the absurd situation does not arise where people first pay taxes and then apply to the authorities for tax-financed transfer payments,” said the FDP politician. Teutrine continued that it was “absurd” that certain people in Germany would pay taxes and then still have to fill out applications to a welfare state authority in order to get housing benefit back from the state.
However, the FDP cannot do it without sanctions. “I think – and this is perhaps also a difference to the coalition partners in the traffic light – that a welfare state must not only be fair to those who need help, but also to those who pay taxes,” said the FDP’s citizen’s benefit spokesman . Sanctions against so-called total objectors would also help to strengthen the acceptance of the welfare state among the population. Even if the vast majority of citizens' benefit recipients would not come into contact with sanctions, these can still send a signal to all citizens' benefit recipients and ensure that they meet their deadlines.
With regard to the CDU's proposals on the subject of citizens' money, Teutrine also appeared willing to talk. He is happy to have any ally who is committed to promotion opportunities and fair performance – regardless of whether they are from the coalition or the opposition. (fd)
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