By Carl-Victor Wachs and Hans-Jörg Vehlewald
Federal Minister of Social Affairs Hubertus Heil (49, SPD) has launched the basic income that is to replace Hartz IV – a mega-reform to protect families from impoverishment.
However, the increase in the support to a good 500 euros/month and, above all, the increase in “protective assets” and the permissible size of the apartments do not only benefit the needy. But also: the notorious clan families in big cities like Berlin and Cologne.
The head of the Mittelstandsunion, Gitta Connemann (58, CDU), warns of this: “This citizen money makes clans even richer,” Connemann told BILD.
If you do it cleverly, “you can lie down in the hammock – and in the nicely heated apartment,” says the CDU politician: “The naivety of the traffic light is short-sighted and dangerous.”
The fact is: the so-called protective assets, which have not been touched for two years despite state aid, have been drastically increased, from 10,000 to 60,000 euros for the head of household, and a further 30,000 for each additional family member!
Problem: A family of four would have savings of 150,000 euros – and thanks to new limits on apartment size, they would be able to live in a 180 square meter house. In addition: two cars – one for each employable person.
CDU social expert Stephan Stracke (48) to BILD: “With the citizen’s income, non-working becomes more attractive. Those who work must always have more than those who do not go to work.”