As of: January 30, 2024, 4:54 a.m
By: Mark Stoffers
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Andrea Nahles appears “irritated” in the citizen’s money discussion.
The BA boss also clears up the idea that citizens' money is more worthwhile than working.
Nuremberg – The discussions about citizens’ money continue.
On the one hand, a possible zero round of the citizen's benefit increase is causing a stir.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil are fighting their traffic light dispute through the media.
On the other hand, the head of the Federal Employment Agency, Andrea Nahles, shows her lack of understanding about the heated mood in the debate about citizens' money.
Heated citizen's benefit debate: BA boss is “irritated” by the unemployment discussion
“We still have one of the lowest unemployment rates since reunification,” said Nahles in an interview with the
editorial network Germany (RND)
about the extraordinary acrimony in the citizen’s benefit debate.
“In view of the debate, one might think that we have doubled in the last six months.
To be honest, I’m irritated by that.”
In addition, the BA boss did not leave the CDU and CSU in good stead.
The Union had complained about the high unemployment figures among Ukrainian refugees and is pursuing its own plans for citizens' benefits.
Nahles apparently considers the accompanying statements about citizens' money to be of little use.
Citizens' money debate about Ukrainians: Nahles attacks statements by Friedrich Merz and the CDU
According to the BA boss, “the labor market rates of Ukrainians from different European countries are not comparable”.
She therefore firmly rejected one of the Union's central points of criticism, namely that the incentives for Ukrainians to work in Germany were too low because the citizen's allowance was too high.
“We have no statistical evidence of this.” Nevertheless, the CDU wants to reduce the citizen’s allowance for Ukrainian refugees “up to and including withdrawal of benefits”.
Andrea Nahles, Chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency, criticizes the debate about citizens' benefits and is “honestly irritated”.
© Daniel Löb/dpa
From Nahles' point of view, who is demanding more speed from the traffic light coalition when it comes to basic child welfare, this form of the citizen's benefit debate is "not entirely fair either".
After all, “Ukrainians were told that they should first learn German.
Hundreds of thousands have done this." She also told the
RND
: "We can't change horses in the middle of a gallop and suddenly accuse people: 'Hey, you haven't started work.'
It is important that someone can speak basic German.
Many have now achieved this.
But he or she can learn the rest while on the job.”
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“Integration has to get better”: Nahles nevertheless rejects criticism of citizens’ money
However, Nahles also made it clear that Germany needs to do better at integrating refugees into the labor market.
“The focus has to be on work.
With the Jobturbo we are now moving towards more 'side by side': placement in work directly after the integration course - and then employment and language acquisition continue in parallel."
Regardless of the discussion about refugee Ukrainians, Nahles also attempted to dispel the criticism that the wage gap requirement was not sufficiently safeguarded by citizen's benefit and that the unemployed were denied reasonable work.
BA boss ignores criticism of citizens' money: "It's less than at any time since 2015"
“The wage gap has widened due to the significant increase in the minimum wage,” says the BA boss about another point of discussion in the criticism of citizens’ money.
“From our point of view, it’s always worth working.
The public claimed that citizen’s benefit was so attractive that people had quit their jobs to receive citizen’s benefit instead.”
Nahles, who had already doubted the meaning of Heil's citizen's money sanctions, gives figures to support her statement.
“We don’t see that in the statistics.
In 2023, 341,200 people slipped from employment in the primary labor market into the citizen's benefit system.
This is the lowest since 2015.”
Citizens' benefit increase as a bone of contention in view of the gap in the 2025 budget?
Nevertheless, the discussions about citizens' money will probably not stop in the future.
While Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently commented on the current debate about citizens' money, some in politics are already looking to the future.
Above all, the budget deficit and possible austerity measures play a role in the thought games.
In view of a presumably billion-dollar financial gap in the federal budget for 2025, FDP budget expert Torsten Herbst, for example, is calling for cuts in all departments.
“Every specialist ministry must now deliver real savings and question entire projects and tasks,” Herbst told the
Bild
newspaper on Saturday.
Sweeping up is no longer enough.
The FDP insists on “real prioritization”.
Citizens’ money for 2025 seems to be at the top of the list.
In his opinion, a further increase in citizens' money would “certainly not be particularly well received”.