Merz is planning citizens' money reform: higher requirements and new sanctions!

Merz is planning citizens' money reform: higher requirements and new sanctions!

The government under the leadership of Friedrich Merz is planning comprehensive changes to citizens' money for 2025, which was introduced in 2023 as a successor to Hartz IV. The aim is to better integrate recipients into the labor market and at the same time optimize government spending. This reports Mercury.

The draft budget envisages an increase in spending on citizens' money by five billion euros, bringing the total budget to almost 52 billion euros. This comes against the background of increasing numbers of citizens' benefit recipients, which are caused by the weak economy. Mandatory expenses, such as the standard rate of 29.6 billion euros and the costs of accommodation of 13 billion euros, form the essential part of the budget. At the same time, the Merz government is planning to increase the active benefits available to job centers by 150 million euros compared to the previous year.

Reform approaches and criticism

Merz attaches particular importance to a reform of citizens' money, which is criticized as bureaucratic and anti-employment. The plan is to introduce a “new basic security”, which is intended to promote greater personal responsibility among recipients. The reform goals include, among other things, the abolition of the term “citizen’s money” and set higher hurdles for receiving benefits. Only people willing to cooperate should receive social benefits, while “total refusers” must expect cuts. Merz announced this based on current figures, which show that there are around 5.7 million recipients of citizens' benefit in Germany, of whom 1.8 million are able to work.

A central point of the reform concerns the penalties for missed appointments in the job center. These could lead to financial losses, which could even lead to a complete loss of benefits in the event of repeated violations. The feedback on these measures is critical, as unions and political opponents consider them “inhumane”. The proposal comes in the context of a 2019 ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, which declared a 100 percent cut in social benefits to be inadmissible, which the government must take into account.

Professional requirements and future plans

As part of the reform, the Merz government also plans to use up to 700 million euros from the budget for participation in the labor market for the long-term unemployed. Experts emphasize the need to better support recipients of citizens' benefit in order to reduce barriers to placement. The number of job offers is severely limited by the current economic situation, and many recipients do not have a professional qualification, which further worsens their chances on the job market. Qualification and further training are seen as the key to improving integration into the labor market.

Increased investments in citizens' money are planned for 2026 and beyond, with an annual increase in the budget for active benefits by one billion euros. This means that a total of 9.95 billion euros should be available to optimally equip the job centers and promote the integration of job seekers buerger-geld.org represents. The Merz government is faced with the challenge of reconciling economic requirements and social responsibility.