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Berlin (dpa) - More than 15 years after the Hartz IV reform came into force, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) wants to significantly defuse the rules for the long-term unemployed with a law.
In future, recipients of the basic security should no longer face exceptional hardship through sanctions in the event of breaches of duty.
Simplified access to basic security for jobseekers, which was already introduced in response to the corona pandemic, is to be "stabilized", as one of the draft laws submitted to the German Press Agency in Berlin says.
The “Spiegel” had already distributed an interview with Heil the day before.
There Heil announced: "The basic security should become a social citizen's benefit, for which nobody has to be ashamed who needs it."
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The Federal Constitutional Court had already severely restricted the job center's sanctioning practice in November 2019 after years of criticism.
Since 2005, the job centers had disciplined uncooperative Hartz IV recipients according to the principle of “support and challenge” by turning off the money tap.
The Constitutional Court ruled on November 5, 2019 that monthly reductions of 60 percent or more are incompatible with the Basic Law.
The job centers are allowed to further reduce the monthly benefits by up to 30 percent if Hartz IV recipients fail to meet their obligations.
Since the judgment, the old sanction practice has already been defused by instructions from the Ministry of Labor and the Federal Agency.
Due to the corona pandemic, there were also fewer and fewer sanctions anyway.
Heil now wants to permanently regulate by law that monthly reductions do not exceed 30 percent of the standard requirement.
According to the draft, this should apply if beneficiaries have repeatedly violated their obligations or missed personal reporting appointments for no good reason.
According to the Heils plans, under no circumstances should anyone have to fear that the housing costs will be affected by reduced benefits.
With every reduction in performance, it should be checked whether it represents an exceptional hardship in the individual case.
In particular, there has been a dispute for years about stricter special regulations for under-25-year-olds - according to Heil's plans, these should now be permanently eliminated.
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The planned law should also provide permanent access to basic security in the Corona crisis.
During the crisis, the job center's examination of housing and assets is suspended - namely how big the apartment is and whether they have savings of up to 60,000 euros.
During a waiting period of two years, according to the draft, assets are to be protected up to the specified amount and rental costs are not checked for appropriateness.
The Heils Ministry said on Saturday: "We want a welfare state at eye level that offers more security and creates new trust."
For example, those who are temporarily looking for work and are covered by the basic security should be able to trust that they will not have to worry about the savings and the housing situation for the time being.
In the coming weeks it will now depend on the attitude of the Union to salvation plans.
If there is no more reform in this legislative period, the plans could become an SPD template for the beginning of the Bundestag election campaign.
At their party congress in December 2019, the Social Democrats had already decided to move away from Hartz IV to overcome the 2010 Agenda of their former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in central points.
The SPD proposals on this went far beyond the now legally planned Hartz reform.
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The unions reacted enthusiastically to salvation plans.
DGB boss Reiner Hoffmann told the German press agency: "This is a socio-political milestone."
This could defuse the conflict over the Hartz IV system that has been smoldering for years and is experienced by many as discriminatory.
"Now it is up to the Union parliamentary group to constructively support these reform plans."
The Hartz reforms were introduced between 2003 and 2005 by the red-green federal government under Schröder.
In some cases, they led to noticeable cuts in social benefits, such as the duration of unemployment benefits.
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