FDP falls short on practical child safeguarding measures
The Family Minister is planning to roll out the Child Allowance on New Year's Day, but the coalition partners are ripping apart the existing legislative plan. An SPD expert no longer expects the Greens' pet project to be implemented in a hurry.
The coalition's dispute over the proposed Child Allowance has confirmed the SPD and FDP's objections to the proposals put forward by the Green Party's Family Minister, Lisa Paus. SPD parliamentary group vice-chairman, Sönke Rix, speaking to the "Rheinische Post," stated that the current legislative draft, as it stands, is not viable. The SPD, Green, and FDP factions are currently engrossed in intense negotiations. "Due to the complexity of the project and the numerous obstacles, we cannot avoid introducing the Child Allowance in stages," Rix added.
The FDP's deputy parliamentary group leader, Gyde Jensen, stated that the negotiations were so complex because Paus had only entered the political process with a vague concept. "First, we discussed unrealistic amounts, then unnecessary structures, and only gradually do we finally discuss the tools that could help combat child poverty," Jensen said. Jensen continued, "There are few political projects from the coalition agreement with which we are making such laborious progress—especially because the willingness to compromise and necessary realism are lacking."
Rix, the SPD family policy expert, argued that parliamentarians saw themselves in the responsibility to discuss and create alternative solution proposals. The legislative proposal for the Child Allowance has been in the parliamentary procedure for months. The cabinet had already approved the draft in the fall, but many questions have remained unanswered since then, and the coalition has publicly argued over details. As per Paus's wishes, the project should come into effect on January 1, 2025. Whether this will happen and in what form is currently uncertain.
The Child Allowance is the Greens' social prestige project. With the social reform, existing benefits such as child allowance, benefits from citizens' income for children, or the child supplement are to be combined. The cabinet had already approved the draft in the fall. Key issues are mainly the implementation, the required staffing, and the incentives that could be established via the new system. The FDP fears that the Child Allowance could make it less appealing for poorer families to take up employment. Better levers against child poverty are kindergarten places, better support in schools, language promotion, and jobs for parents, said Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner recently to the Funke media group.
