Government plans to save 3 billion euros on citizens' money!

Government plans to save 3 billion euros on citizens' money!

The federal government is under pressure when it comes to the issue of citizens' money. Significant savings of 1.5 billion euros are planned for 2026 and another 1.5 billion euros for 2027. A crucial point for these savings is the number of support recipients. But the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs cannot give any concrete figures and refers to “established assumptions”. This is causing dissatisfaction and has already led to questions from the public. As the Picture reports, without clear data, the government's plans are difficult to understand.

In 2025, the costs of citizens' money will have risen to almost 43 billion euros. This raises new questions. How does such high spending come about and what are the specific measures associated with it? Minister Bärbel Bas has announced that the savings will be implemented through tougher sanctions for those unwilling to work and a more intensive fight against undeclared work. But here too there is no precise information about the people affected or the cases of undeclared work.

Savings and reforms in citizens' money

Citizens' benefit, which was passed in 2022 as a reform of basic security and came into force at the beginning of 2023, replaced the former unemployment benefit II, better known as Hartz IV. Critics, particularly from the CDU/CSU, FDP and AfD, have expressed concerns about the rising costs. The cost expenditure in 2023 was 42.6 billion euros - an increase of 16 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Federal Agency for Civic Education reported.

One of the main changes is the reform of placement priority. Job centers used to be obliged to offer all job seekers any reasonable employment, but this priority has been abolished. Instead, the focus should now be on long-term employment and the qualification of job seekers. At the same time, the protective assets were increased from 10,000 euros to 40,000 euros - for each additional person in the community of needs, 15,000 euros are added.

Tough sanctions and new regulations

An exciting element in current events is the three-tier sanction system that is applied in the event of breaches of duty. Aid can be reduced if benefit recipients refuse to take part in placement discussions. This system is intended to motivate users to actively strive for their integration into the labor market. Interestingly, the Union parties are in favor of a return to the old rules and are demanding that citizens' benefits be canceled if they are refused work.

In order to better evaluate the reform of citizens' benefit, a comprehensive scientific analysis by the Federal Employment Agency is planned for the end of 2026. The question remains: How do citizens themselves assess these measures? After all, from January to August 2024, an increase of 8 percent was recorded in the integration of former benefit recipients into the labor market.

The topic of citizens' money remains exciting and will certainly continue to cause discussions. How the government plans to overcome the challenges ahead remains to be seen.