Germany gives a change of direction to its social policies with the ambitious reform of Scholz

Germany will launch next January the citizen income, the new social protection system with which the government of the social democrat Olaf Scholz has undertaken the reform of the controversial legacy of the former chancellor of his same party, Gerhard Schröder.

After the rise in the minimum wage to 12 euros an hour, the next milestone in the social policy of the German tripartite is to correct the unemployment benefit known as Hartz IV (a system that Angela Merkel inherited from Schröder, but never touched in her 16 years in power).

Her substitute will not only be more generous in aid, but it will be granted with fewer bureaucratic obstacles.

Scholz has managed to carry out the great social reform of the legislature, although he has been forced to water it down to get the agreement of the Christian Democratic opposition.

The citizen income that the two chambers of the German Parliament (Bundestag and Bundesrat) approved this Friday increases the amount of the subsidies and turns the spirit of the system upside down: instead of criminalizing its recipients, who were constantly threatened with sanctions if did not meet the strict requirements, he trusts them and helps them train to find a suitable job.

The negotiation of the

(literally, citizen's money) has exemplified the constructive climate of the German Parliament like few others.

From the initial refusal of the Conservatives to allow a system that, according to them, discouraged the search for work, it has passed in a matter of days to an agreement that satisfies both parties, at least enough to vote in favor.

The coalition of social democrats, greens and liberals has had to give up some characteristics that to the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, seemed little less than giving away money for nothing.

The main objective of the Scholz government was not to place social assistance recipients under general suspicion of fraud, as is the case with the system that has been in force for more than 20 years and is currently received by 5.3 million people, including adults in working age and their beneficiaries.

Instead, he hopes they will use the benefit to improve their training and qualify for a better job.

The Hartz IV —baptized with the last name of the former Volkswagen manager to whom Schröder commissioned the design of the reform in the early 2000s, when German growth was stagnant and unemployment rampant— merged into a single system benefits that until then had been separate .

Unemployment benefits and social benefits came together to create Hartz IV, a system that put extreme pressure on the unemployed to accept any job offer, even below their professional qualifications or far from home.

If they did not, they lost benefits.

A question of "respect"

For Scholz, the new

is a matter of "respect", a reform that he has called a "milestone in German social policy".

"With better advice, more trust and less bureaucracy, we help citizens to get out of long-term unemployment and unskilled jobs and join the labor market," said the chancellor.

The problem in Germany today is not exactly unemployment, but the lack of qualified labor.

For this reason, the reform is focused on training and even provides for an extra payment during qualification courses.

For the opposition leader, the

, as it was initially conceived, was a dangerous precedent, a first step towards an unconditional citizen income, a black beast for his party.

Although at first he also criticized the amounts, he has finally accepted the increases proposed by the tripartite.

The basic maintenance benefit for a single person rises to 502 euros per month, 53 more than now.

In reality, the amount barely covers inflation, which in October reached 10.4%.

NGOs dedicated to social assistance have been warning for months that the Hartz IV practically leaves its recipients in poverty.

This Friday they have called the political agreement "absolutely disappointing" and accuse the CDU of leading "a campaign of disinformation against the poorest" that describes the recipients of the subsidy as "lazy" who do not want to work.

According to calculations by the umbrella organization Paritätische Gesamtverband, an allowance that enables people to live in dignity should not be less than 725 euros.

Merz and other conservative figures, such as the leader of the Bavarian CSU, Markus Söder, have defended in interviews and public events that the citizen income harms low-income employees.

“It disadvantages lower-income groups who have to work hard—cashiers, hairdressers, bus drivers, police chiefs—to make ends meet and who realize that not working is almost as lucrative as working.

It's not fair," Söder argued.

Merz also repeats the idea of ​​the injustice that workers finance "those who could work" but do not do so because the State does not encourage them.

For social organizations, the

is little more than a name change.

A way to overcome the social democratic trauma of Schröder's social cuts 20 years ago, which cost him countless street protests, serious internal tensions and, ultimately, the chancellorship.

Merkel won the elections in 2005 and built the German period of prosperity on the basis of that painful reform.

The name Hartz IV, too loaded with negative meaning, had to disappear.

Although for this the SPD of Scholz has had to sacrifice part of his spirit.

Originally, the government coalition intended to establish a moratorium on sanctions.

In the first six months, called the "confidence period", no fines were going to be imposed for not showing up for job interviews or skipping appointments at the employment office.

Exceptions were provided for very obvious cases of total lack of cooperation.

But Christian Democrats have demanded that clause be withdrawn.

The reform was about to founder, which would have meant that the recipients of the subsidy did not receive the increase in January.

After approval in the Bundestag, where the tripartite party has a majority, the Christian Democrats blocked the law in the Bundesrat, the upper house where the federal states are represented.

Far from being buried, the reform was referred to a "mediation committee" created

to reach an agreement.

Its 32 members, 16 from the Bundesrat and 16 from the Bundestag, sat down to find common points and in a matter of days they came up with the common proposal that has been voted on again.

The agreement has cost the tripartite to give in on another controversial point.

The norm initially allowed the patrimony to be maintained during the first two years of benefit, as long as it was less than 60,000 euros, plus 30,000 euros for each additional member of the household.

The opposition argued that giving social benefits to a family of four members with 150,000 euros in the bank discourages the search for employment.

Finally, that grace period has been set at one year.

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