BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The left has sharply criticized the traffic light dispute over the financing of the planned basic child security. The government is performing an unworthy spectacle on the backs of the poorest families in the country, said co-party leader Martin Schirdewan on Monday in Berlin. “This is really completely unacceptable and intolerable.” The children of the country deserve better.
The co-head of the left-wing faction in the Bundestag, Dietmar Bartsch, called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to act. This must determine the priorities of his government, said Bartsch of the German Press Agency. “A year ago, 100 billion euros were raised overnight for the armed forces provided. The fact that it should now fail because of 12 billion euros for basic child security would be a fatal signal for social cohesion.”
Bartsch called for the introduction of basic child security this year. According to the ideas of the left, today’s child benefit would first have to be raised from the current 250 to 328 euros. Depending on need and age, surcharges would be added, so that a maximum amount of 681 euros would be reached.
The traffic light wants to bundle various state benefits for children in basic child security from 2025 and through a digitalization and application simplification to reach more entitled persons. The Greens and FDP have been arguing for weeks about how much money the project should cost. Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) has announced a need of twelve billion euros. This is met with resistance in the FDP./jr/DP/jha