The Family Minister wanted 5,000 new jobs for the implementation of basic child welfare. After criticism from the FDP, he dropped the lawsuit.
Lisa Paus backs down after harsh criticism from the FDP Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa
SEDAN taz | Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) has to back down once again on the issue of basic child welfare. Last year, the traffic light argued violently about the 12,000 million euros that she requested to finance the reform. The minister never provided an exact breakdown of how Paus arrived at that figure. The FDP criticized harshly: in particular, Finance Minister Christian Lindner did not want to budget 12 billion for basic child welfare.
In the end, Paus received 2 billion. Now the game repeats itself. This year's point of contention: So that more people can receive basic child support, Paus planned to focus the processing on a newly created authority, family service. According to the Federal Employment Agency, more than 5,000 new jobs are needed. This was again followed by strong criticism from the FDP. Secretary-General Bijan Djir-Sarai describes Paus's proposal as a “bureaucratic monster” and threatened to let the bill fail.
Now Paus and the Greens are backing down again. “There will not be 5,000 new jobs,” Green Party co-chair Ricarda Lang said on ARD's “Report from Berlin.” The debate should no longer focus on this figure. Paus explained that she is looking closely at where there are opportunities to reduce the administrative burden. “I am sure that the total number of jobs can still be reduced through synergy effects and constant digitalization,” said the Family Minister.
A spokesman for the Ministry of the Family explained that the 5,000 additional jobs were only a forecast from the Federal Employment Agency. This could change during the parliamentary process. The ministry spokesperson continued that it is not yet possible to predict whether there will be 1,000 or 2,000 fewer jobs.
In response to a question from taz, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) explained that it had simply transferred to authority positions the figure provided in the bill of 5.6 million children who could receive additional support. If the Bill changes during the parliamentary process, the BA will also correct its registered work requirements.
The FDP calls for a new bill
At the same time, Paus stressed that more personnel are still needed so that in the future the authority can directly address families who are entitled to benefits. “If more families submit applications, these must also be processed,” said the Minister of Family.
The FDP, for its part, demands a new bill from Paus. The points of digitalization and reduction of bureaucracy were not sufficiently taken into account in the current model, Djir-Sarai said after a meeting of the presidium on Monday. To effectively combat child poverty, the Green Party minister must review her proposals.
In the case of basic child security, the above benefits, such as child benefit, citizen child benefit or child benefit, are grouped into a single benefit. This is one of the prestigious socio-political projects of the traffic light. It is not yet clear whether it will be introduced in 2025 as announced.