- Ministry: No reduction in the citizens' allowance
A reduction of the citizen's allowance is not possible based on the current legal situation. The Federal Ministry of Social Affairs has pointed this out. The continuation of the so-called standard need levels is carried out according to legal provisions, a spokesperson said in Berlin.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr had proposed a reduction. The benefit is currently "14 to 20 euros per month too high," he said to "Bild" and justified this with the fact that inflation had been estimated higher than it had actually developed.
Ministry: Zero increase, but no reduction
The citizen's allowance sentences are adjusted annually according to the general price and wage development in the country, additionally, current developments of certain prices, such as food or clothing, are taken into account. The calculations for this so-called continuation are carried out in the coming months. The citizen's allowance adjustment is then implemented at the beginning of each year by regulation.
Within this regulation, there is no scope for decision-making regarding the resulting contributions, the ministry spokesperson said. "In this case, if the resulting contributions are below the current standard needs, the contributions will be continued at the current level through a legal protection regulation." A reduction is therefore not possible. According to earlier statements, there will also not be a further increase in the citizen's allowance for the coming year, but a zero increase.
The FDP's proposal for a new regulation has little chance of being implemented. After the SPD, the Greens also rejected the idea.
The FDP's proposal for reducing the citizen's allowance has been met with resistance. Despite the FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr's assertion that the current allowance is 14 to 20 euros per month too high, the Federal Ministry has stated that a reduction is not feasible due to legal provisions. Furthermore, even if the resulting contributions were below the current standard needs, they would be continued at the current level through a legal protection regulation.
