As of: February 27, 2024, 9:08 p.m
By: Sonja Ruf
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The federal chairman of the Green Party has announced an early solution to the debate about the introduction of a payment card for refugees.
“Technical adjustment needs” still need to be clarified.
Berlin - Green Party leader Omid Nouripour announced on Tuesday (February 27) on
ARD
's "Morgenmagazin" that he sees an early solution coming to the debate about the introduction of a payment card for refugees.
On Tuesday, the Green parliamentary group started a closed meeting in Leipzig, where the topic will certainly be discussed again in detail.
A payment card for refugees is intended to prevent them from transferring money back home or to smugglers.
The background to this debate is that the Federal Chancellor, together with the prime ministers of the federal states, decided to introduce such a payment card in November last year.
“If legal adjustments are necessary given the specific design of the payment card, the federal government will initiate these as soon as possible,” it says in a resolution paper after the meeting.
Green Party leader Omid Nouripour at the federal press conference in early January 2024. © Imago/Political moments
The debate in the traffic light coalition was not about the actual topic, there was agreement about the introduction, but rather about the legal context.
Specifically, the issue is whether the introduction of payment cards is dependent on a change to the “Asylum Seekers Benefits Act” at the federal level.
Proponents, such as the FDP, SPD and the states in this case, would like the payment card to be explicitly mentioned in that law.
Nouripour: “We want the payment card to come.”
Alliance 90/The Greens had recently spoken out against this and pointed out that states such as Hamburg and Bavaria had already launched their own payment card models at the state level, without any federal legal framework.
In this regard, the prime ministers of the federal states have recently increasingly expressed the desire for legal certainty and the fear of lawsuits without a federal regulation.
Nouripour now said specifically in a conversation with
ARD
presenter Michael Strempel and speaking for the Green Party: “We want the payment card to come.
[…] We have also agreed politically to what the state prime ministers have agreed with each other.” He adds that there are still “technical adjustment needs” that still need to be clarified.
“Heat in the debate” is not entirely understandable for the Green Party leader
As an example of a difficulty, the Green politician mentions a bakery in a rural area that would only take cash.
The native of Tehran emphasizes that it is fundamentally necessary that people are not “fundamentally bullied” but can still use the card wherever they want in their environment.
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For the 48-year-old, the “heat in the debate” is not entirely understandable.
Finally, he emphasizes that from his perspective, everything that is necessary for the introduction of the payment card is currently underway and that “will happen very quickly,” says the Green politician.
When Strempel asked whether he had understood correctly, the dispute over the introduction of the payment card in traffic lights would soon be resolved.
Nouripour answers: “Yes, you have.”
(Sonja Ruf)