Plans for citizen income: will the amount of the protective assets be reduced?
Created: 11/22/2022, 3:44 p.m
By: Anne Hund
In the dispute over the planned social reform, the parties in the traffic light coalition and the Union have agreed on a compromise on several points.
Union and Ampel have reached a compromise in the dispute over citizen income.
This was announced by representatives of the parties, as reported by the German Press Agency (dpa) and
Tagesschau.de
on Tuesday (November 22nd).
On Wednesday (November 23), however, the Mediation Committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat should discuss the disputed points and decide on the compromise that has been reached, it said.
Citizens' money: Union prevails by demanding more sanctions for recipients
What did both sides agree on?
The preliminary compromise envisages “according to unanimous information from the Union and government factions, further decisive changes to the original draft law”, dpa reported on Tuesday.
Among other things, there should be sanctions in the form of withdrawal of benefits from day one – “without exceptions”, as dpa writes.
The trust period of six months provided by the traffic light, during which there should be no reductions in performance in the event of breaches of duty, should be completely eliminated.
The waiting period with milder regulations, originally set for 24 months, should only be 12 months.
The parties in the traffic light coalition and the CDU/CSU have found a compromise on the planned citizens' allowance.
© Lutz Wallroth/Imago
Citizens' benefit: According to a compromise, protective assets should be reduced to 40,000 euros
"In the case of the associated protective assets, the Union side reportedly implemented a reduction from 60,000 euros to 40,000 euros," the dpa report continues.
Exactly this part had been one of the big points of contention beforehand.
The traffic light had provided for a saving of 60,000 euros.
Meanwhile, the CDU and CSU had demanded that those affected be allowed to keep less of their own assets if they received the state benefit.
Tagesschau.de
reported on Tuesday about further details of the agreement that has now been reached: "The compromise now provides for an amount of 40,000 euros for the first person in a benefit community and 15,000 euros for each additional person," the report says.
"There is a waiting period of one year - the traffic light wanted two years." During this time, benefit recipients would not have to use up the savings;
the old-age provision is completely excluded from this and protected, the
Tagesschau
further informed about the compromise reached.
Criticism of the planned citizen money from the left
The left criticized the compromise on citizen income.
Apart from an increase in the standard rate by 53 euros, there is almost nothing left of the reform, party leader Janine Wissler explained to dpa on Tuesday in Berlin.
According to the plans of the federal government, citizen income should come into force in January 2023
"If the agreement should be confirmed, the social reform could clear the last hurdle at the end of the week," reported the Tagesschau.
According to the plans of the federal government, citizen income should be launched on January 1, 2023.