WWhen it comes to doing their city a disservice, the Dresden CDU is often at the forefront. This was also the case on Thursday evening, when the party in the city council supported a motion from the AfD, which essentially involved the introduction of a payment card for asylum seekers. The proposal has been virulent since last fall and has always been rejected in committees – including with votes from the CDU – because the federal government is planning a payment card anyway. So why spend money on developing another card? But then Dresden's often very unique local political dynamics set in, which led straight to disaster for both the CDU and the city, while the AfD is the laughing third party.

When the AfD motion, which had been rejected in the committees, came up for a final vote in the city council on Thursday, the CDU suddenly changed its mind and declared that it now wanted to vote for the motion. As a result, the FDP and Free Voters were also drawn to the “Yes” side. Nobody had expected this, not even the side of the city council made up of the Greens, SPD and Left, which did not have all the councilors in the room to prevent approval. In the end it was 33:32 for the AfD motion, which came about with significant help from the CDU and thus left a hole in the CDU “firewall”.

The payment card has been causing a lot of excitement for months, and not just in Dresden. The states require a legally secure basis for the introduction of payment cards for asylum seekers, something that was agreed with the federal government in November. However, the coalition is not making any progress in the Bundestag.

The other parties are annoyed with the Greens

There was an exchange of blows in the Bundestag on Thursday. The reason was a draft law by the Union parliamentary group for the “legally secure introduction of a payment card in the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act”. He was referred to the relevant committees. The federal cabinet had already presented a draft law on March 1st, but the vote by the government factions had not yet progressed. This doesn't just frustrate the Union. The SPD and FDP have also recently picked up the pace.

Before the agreement was reached in March, the Greens made it clear that they did not consider a change in the law to be necessary. After the cabinet's draft was available, the SPD and FDP pushed for implementation, but the desired decision in the last week of the meeting did not come about. The cabinet draft envisages the introduction of payment cards for asylum seekers as an express option in the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act; the specific design should remain the responsibility of the states. But it is also important that the payment card could be issued to all asylum seekers – not just to those who live in shared accommodation and who have previously mainly received benefits in kind. It is also still unclear whether groups should be excluded.