German legislation obliges social welfare recipients to agree to any acceptable work
"No one should consider living on benefits a pleasant option," said Hesse's Prime Minister Roland. "From every benefit recipient, the state, in exchange for support, must demand agreement to any socially useful employment."
According to Koch, recipients of state aid can be divided into two groups: one consists of those who, due to difficult life circumstances and through no fault of their own, find themselves in a tough situation. Others are people 'playing the system and finding convenient niches in it.' Any system of support for the unemployed, in Koch's opinion, cannot function if it does not contain effective elements of intimidation: "Otherwise it becomes unbearable for normally working people who compare their incomes with the money available to the socially dependent."
Koch, who also advocates raising the limits on allowable earnings for the unemployed ("Work must make sense again"), is aware that many will react critically to his statements: "Even within the CDU, the discussion will be difficult."
Indeed, Koch's statements provoked a quick and heated reaction from other political forces in Germany. Although the first to accuse the Hessian politician of 'disparaging' the unemployed was his party colleague, current Labor Minister Ursula von der: "The majority strives to escape the clutches of Hartz. Let's not forget that many of its recipients cannot work because they have nowhere to place their children, because they lack school education or a profession."
Following the labor minister, the Secretary General of the Free Democratic Party, Christian Lindner, joined the discussion: "I don't think Roland Koch's statements will lead us to a solution to the problem." The opposition, as expected, used Koch's proposals to call the government to account. Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Sigmar Gabriel, considered that "it would be nice if the government fulfilled its work obligations and finally managed the country, instead of just watching unemployment grow."
The Left, through Klaus Ernst, deputy chairman of the Die Linke parliamentary faction, called on Angela Merkel to put the 'derailed' Koch in his place, calling the politician's demands 'medieval': "Anyone who seeks to embed elements of intimidation into the support system for the poorest layers of the population is absolutely consciously making those people victims of the system."
The dispute somewhat distracted its participants from discussing the reform itself. Its significant component is increasing the allowable amount of savings for a social assistance applicant. The non-countable 'wealth' should grow from €250 per year of life to €750: thus, a fifty-year-old person with €37,500 in bank accounts instead of the current €12,500 will be able to apply for social assistance.
Nevertheless, this relaxation will actually help only a very small fraction of benefit applicants – only 0.2%. Out of 5.554 million applications for benefit payments received by the competent authorities from January to September 2009, only 11 thousand were rejected because the applicant's assets exceeded the permitted maximum. And the vast majority ask for state help without having a single extra cent.
According to already existing legislation, ALG II recipients are obliged to agree to any acceptable work. Otherwise, they face a 30% reduction in benefits, and eventually, a complete refusal of payments. According to the Ministry of Labor, in the first eight months of the past year, employment centers applied sanctions in 68,500 cases to Hartz IV benefit recipients for refusing offered work or further training. In total, punitive measures were applied to 488 thousand social benefit recipients during this period – primarily for failure to meet registration deadlines at employment centers.
Pyotr LEVSKY.
Russkaya Germaniya