As of: March 22, 2024, 7:12 p.m
By: Stephanie Munk
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Bavaria gives the starting signal for the payment card for asylum seekers.
CSU leader Markus Söder explained what awaits refugees.
Update from March 21st, 11:55 a.m.:
In Bavaria, the payment card for asylum seekers has been launched in the first municipalities.
In the federal government, however, the dispute over this continues.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has now accused the Greens of blocking the planned nationwide regulation on payment cards.
“I have to tell you honestly: I don’t understand it,” said Merz on the
ntv
show “ Frühstart “.
It is an agreement with the prime ministers, all 16 federal states have agreed, and the Greens here in Berlin are right across the room.”
First report: Söder launches payment card in Bavaria - only 50 euros in cash for refugees
Munich – “Our payment card comes faster and is harder”.
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) announced this in February.
And the payment card for refugees actually starts before Easter, as planned – at least in some model communities.
On Wednesday (March 20th) Söder gave the starting signal for the pilot phase.
Together with Interior State Secretary Sandro Kirchner and Thomas Karmasin, President of the Bavarian District Council, Söder gave a press conference on the already approved payment card for refugees in Munich on Wednesday afternoon.
The payment card will initially be launched in the districts of Fürstenfeldbruck, Günzburg and Traunstein as well as the independent city of Straubing.
Markus Söder (m.), Prime Minister of Bavaria and CSU chairman, presents the payment card with Interior State Secretary Sandro Kirchner (l.) and Thomas Karmasin, President of the Bavarian District Council.
© IMAGO/Frank Hoermann/SVEN SIMON
Söder on the payment card in Bavaria: Yes to help, no to money transfers abroad
Söder said at the press conference that the payment card does not solve all problems, but is “part of the solution to the problem” in view of the major challenges posed by migration.
Bavaria was sending a signal that asylum seekers would be helped, but also saying “no to money transfers abroad”.
The money supply for illegal smugglers will be significantly reduced.
Bavaria is “faster and more consistent” than the other German federal states.
You can read a comment from
Münchner Merkur
about the payment card here.
According to Interior State Secretary Sandro Kirchner, it is a normal debit card in the Mastercard system and can therefore be used widely.
The Free State will cover the costs of the introduction.
Söder gives details about the payment card: How much cash can be raised, who gets it?
The payment card is issued to asylum seekers aged 14 and over, so it currently affects around 70,000 people in Bavaria, said Söder.
They could use it to buy food, clothing, hygiene products and other things in shops in the zip code area of their district.
Communication is also covered.
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Online shopping, gambling and transfers abroad are not possible with the payment card.
The card can be used to withdraw up to 50 euros in cash per month and per person.
This is a lower amount than planned in other federal states, said Söder.
Overall, Bavaria is taking a “hard and fast course” with the payment card, he explained.
Payment card for asylum seekers in Bavaria: Söder answers open questions
What was exciting at Söder's press conference was exactly how the payment card should be designed.
Several open questions were answered.
50 euros in cash
can be withdrawn
per month and asylum seeker .
According to Söder, this is sufficient for lunch, public transport or similar.
The card is to
be issued to asylum seekers
aged 14 and over .
The payment card will initially be valid in
shops in the district's postcode area
.
However, the districts and municipalities can adapt this individually.
The “Bavarian-wide roll-out”
of the payment card
will take place in the second quarter , said Söder.
It is still unclear how the payment card works for necessary, more expensive services, such as paying a lawyer.
The awarding of the payment card in Bavaria has already been completed: the contract for the Europe-wide tender by the Ministry of the Interior went to the company “Paycenter” from Freising.
Payment card in Bavaria is intended to reduce pull factors for refugees - Söder presents the card
The aim of the payment card should be to avoid incentives to move in - so-called pull factors - by reducing the amount of cash available, said Söder at the press conference.
Last year there were 330,000 asylum applications in Germany, and districts and municipalities were overloaded.
With the payment card, the incentive to come to Germany is limited to the need to find a new home.
According to the Prime Minister, social incentives such as cash benefits should be given greater weight.
However, it is debatable whether social benefits paid out in cash are really an incentive for refugees to leave their country and flee to Germany.
Reem Alabali-Radovan, Minister of State for Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), contradicted this in an interview with
IPPEN.MEDIA
: “Surveys and studies show that proportional cash benefits are really not a reason why people flee to us.”
Payment card for asylum seekers also planned by the traffic light coalition - Söder takes a special approach
The payment card for refugees will sooner or later be introduced not only in Bavaria, but throughout Germany.
The traffic light coalition agreed on this in November.
However, the Bavarian government has decided on a special approach to the introduction - just like Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
“Something will probably not happen in the federal government until autumn,” said Söder at the press conference on Wednesday, adding that the tender will probably not start until June.
“We in Bavaria are faster and more consistent.”
The 13 other federal states have agreed on a joint procurement process for the payment card.
This should be completed by summer 2024, it was said.
The payment cards are already available in the city of Hamburg – as part of a pilot project.
The findings should then flow into the nationwide concept.
Greens block change in the federal law for asylum seekers payment cards
There has been a tough struggle in the traffic light coalition for weeks over the introduction of the payment card.
Olaf Scholz's government had agreed on a change in the law.
However, the Greens are blocking this because in their opinion it is not necessary.
Politicians from the SPD and FDP, on the other hand, see the risk of lawsuits against the card if there is no regulation at the federal level.
Critics of the payment card see it as a means of restricting the rights and personal freedoms of asylum seekers.
(smu)