#Germany
#Politics
#Capitalism
#Repression

About the repression of the poor in Germany through the laws of the German government. They drive people into homelessness, existential hardship, and poverty.

>Back to Hartz IV: This impoverishment is planned by the SPD and the Union as a “new basic security”

The SPD and the CDU/CSU have agreed on a "new basic security" that squashes all the efforts of the traffic light government to introduce a citizen's income. Helena Steinhaus analyzes the planned regulations on sanctions, protected assets, and compulsory work.

In the initial results of the coalition negotiations, the CDU/CSU and SPD are calling the abolition of the citizen's income a "new basic security for job seekers." This basic security benefit should actually be called something else; a better name suggestion would be "Disenfranchisement and Impoverishment System for Unemployed People." Here are the key points of the current status of the negotiations.

1." Furthermore, "sanctions (...) should be able to be enforced more quickly, more easily, and with less bureaucracy." Think
Conceivable here are the tightening measures already passed under the traffic light coalition, with immediate 30 percent of the standard rate for three months for the first rejected job offer and also for missed appointments (instead of the initial 10 percent for one month as previously with the citizen's allowance). "For people who are able to work and onstitutional complaint cannot be repeatedly refuse reasonable work, a complete withdrawal of benefits will be made": The SPD and the Union continue to refer to total sanctions in their paper. So far, however, they have not elaborated on how the total sanctions should be structured, as they have been highly controversial since a 2019 ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court. Despite their potential unconstitutionality, they have been possible again with the citizen's allowance since 2024. Thus, the Chancellor-to-be unscrupulously announced at the beginning of March: "Let's see what Karlsruhe says about this." He, too, knows that a c1. Total sanctions: “Let’s see what Karlsruhe says about this”
As already announced in the exploratory paper, sanctions are to be tightened "in line with the principle of support and conjured up out of thin air and that it can sometimes take years before it is finally heard. Until then, many sanctioned individuals could suffer from a potentially unconstitutional
practice.

2. "Placement Priority": Forced to Work, No Matter How. Placement priority should once again be a priority. So, instead of focusing on qualification and further training, as well as sustainable placement in adequately paid and suitable jobs, the fastest possible placement in any activity should once again become mandatory. At least in theory, the Citizen's Allowance (Bürgergeld) is conceived differently, and that was a major achievement: Further training and sustainable placement are currently more important in theory than placement in poorly paid jobs. However, this could hardly be implemented in practice because funding to job centers was cut year after year. This is precisely where there would have been great potential to offer low-skilled people genuine long-term prospects. The potential new government is missing a great opportunity here and will sow much misery with this regression. In combination with the stricter sanctions, this could reduce the right to free choice of profession to absurdity and make the new basic security at least as disastrous as Hartz IV was. Hartz IV was largely known for pushing people into low-paying jobs, massively inflating the low-wage sector, and driving people into dire poverty and even homelessness through sanctions. Employers who pay low wages benefit most from this. Many people remain poor despite working and have to apply for supplementary social benefits, or often end up back in the job center after a short time. This is not only detrimental to the individual's biography and well-being, but ultimately also to the state coffers.

3. Effective Reduction of the Standard Rate. The effective reduction of the standard rate was also decided. The calculation mechanism is to be reversed to pre-coronavirus times. This means that the standard rate will again be adjusted to inflation with a delay, so that people's purchasing power will de facto continue to decline over the years. Even if the standard rate in the citizen's income was still far too low, the faster adjustment of the rates to inflation was a small step forward, which the SPD should have defended against the CDU/CSU with stern tactics.

4. No grace period: Personal savings must be used up immediately. The waiting period for protected assets is to be abolished. Previously, the first person in a household in need could keep a maximum of €40,000, at least in the first year of receiving citizen's allowance. This was good, especially for the self-employed or people who had saved something for retirement. Now, this money, except for an as yet undetermined amount, the protected assets, must be used up immediately before the "New Basic Security" takes effect. Currently, the protected assets are €15,000. In the future, it will be adjusted to "lifetime achievements." Most people receiving citizen's allowance have no savings anyway, so it only affects a few people. But for those affected, it is particularly hard.

5. Commission on Modernization: Are cuts to housing imminent? What lies behind the Commission on "Modernization and Debureaucratization," which is expected to deliver results on how benefits can be made lump-sum by the end of 2025, remains to be seen. However, it is clear that the aim here is to specifically reduce the costs of accommodation and ancillary costs, as already announced by the CDU/CSU. That would be disastrous, especially since there is already hardly any "adequate" housing available for people on citizen's income, and 325,000 households alone have to pay around €100 a month from their small standard rate towards rent, meaning they are permanently living below the subsistence level. Flat-rate housing costs would mean even more poverty and the displacement of people from more desirable residential areas than is already the case. Homelessness could also be a direct consequence. Back to Hartz IV: The traffic light struggle for citizen's income is reversed. The result is bitter: the citizen's income has really only achieved a few noteworthy things for people. But with the reintroduction of priority placement, the harsher sanctions, even lower protected assets, and the same calculation method as during the Hartz era, all the wrangling of the traffic light coalition over the past three years has become completely unnecessary. From citizen's income to the sanction machine—that's one could also call the transition to the "New Basic Security." "If you don't work, you shouldn't eat" is the clear threat that sets the tone for the "New Basic Security." Total sanctions and priority placement are intended to be the fatal combination of the "New Basic Security" to force people into jobs with no alternative. But that's not all. If the Union has its way, efforts should be made to "harmonize social standards across Europe" to prevent alleged immigration into the social systems. Civil society assistance in dealing with payment cards for refugees should also be criminalized. To name just two points that are particularly questionable and, above all, would violate existing law. Forgotten and unmentioned are all the people who will never escape the system. Tragically, this includes the majority of the 5.5 million people on basic social security benefits. The fact that an estimated 40 percent of those entitled to citizen's income do not claim it is not worth a word in the negotiations. Forgotten are basic child benefit, respect, equality, human dignity, participation, and equal opportunities. All of this seems to be just socially romantic nonsense. Instead, people in poverty are silenced, ignored, or placed under general suspicion so that they can be further harassed and deprived of their rights. This is not a clear-cutting. This is burning down. The negotiations are not yet over, and this is only an interim stage of the disaster. But it is already clear that the "New Basic Social Security" will have fatal consequences for the people. While the low-wage sector will sing its praises."

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