Payment cards for refugees: Hamburg In practice it works, but in theory there is still debate

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Refugee with debit card in Offenburg, Baden-Württemberg: The project is already underway in practice

Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth / dpa

A small piece of plastic, highly politically charged: the payment card for refugees. Some, like FDP leader Christian Lindner, see it as a “milestone” in reducing incentives for “irregular” migration, while others consider it to be ineffective or even discriminatory.

At the end of last year, the federal and state governments agreed to introduce the card. In the future, asylum seekers will no longer receive state benefits in cash, but rather as credit on this payment card. (Read more about the payment card here). And Hamburg was the first federal state to start issuing the card last Thursday. Some districts in Germany also started model tests.

Some create facts. The traffic light factions argued publicly at the weekend - with the SPD and FDP pitted against the Greens. Essentially, the question is whether federal regulation is necessary or useful for the introduction of the card. The Greens reject changes to the law, unlike representatives of the FDP and SPD.

• The federal government should expand the legal basis for the use of payment cards, said the deputy parliamentary group leader of the FDP, Konstantin Kuhle, to the dpa news agency and the “Tagesspiegel”. »This includes, for example, removing the priority of cash benefits for accommodation outside of reception facilities. This makes payment cards usable in more constellations and thus makes their nationwide introduction easier.”

• The FDP also accused that the Greens' rejection of legal changes was actually a request to block the introduction of the card and to cancel what had already been agreed. “It is extremely strange that the instruments that were agreed upon are suddenly being called into question,” said FDP General Secretary Djir-Sarai to the TV channel “Welt”.

• FDP vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki made his usual blustering comments. He told the "Bild" newspaper: "If the Greens actually torpedo this minimally invasive intervention in the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act, it will question the continuation of the coalition."

The accusations from the SPD against the Greens are also remarkably harsh, specifically directed at Economics Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck: The Federal Ministry of Labor “provided a formulation of the law that was ready for decision. "Unfortunately, for incomprehensible reasons, this is being blocked in Robert Habeck's Green Ministry of Economic Affairs," said the domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sebastian Hartmann, to the "Tagesspiegel".

Grüner accuses the Chancellery of “bad management”.

Habeck's environment sharply rejected the allegations. »Nothing is being held up, there is no departmental coordination at all. The process lies between the Chancellery and the parliamentary groups,” sources in the Ministry of Economic Affairs told SPIEGEL.

The Greens are resisting the interpretation that they wanted to block the introduction of the card. Instead, there is simply no need for legal changes. Leading Greens in the Bundestag see the Chancellery as having a duty in the further process. Sharp words are used here too: “bad management”, “chaos”.

»It was a common stance in the coalition that the states could introduce the payment card in a legally secure manner. Various countries such as Hamburg and Bavaria are already doing this. Changes are therefore not necessary and have not been agreed upon. We are not available for chaos, distraction debates and bad management from the Chancellery," said Andreas Audretsch, deputy leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag. "We don't need an argument with a grand gesture, but rather people who act objectively and constructively," he said on Sunday.

In October, before the federal-state agreement on the payment card, Audretsch received a letter from Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD), which was available to SPIEGEL. It says: The point “Benefits in kind and work opportunities” for asylum seekers was written with the understanding “that no legal change is necessary.”

Pressure from the Union

However, there are different reports about the federal government's stance on a legal change. When asked by the dpa news agency, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Labor confirmed that a formulation aid had been developed on behalf of a working group from the federal states. It provides “that the form of payment card service is expressly included in the law.” This was preceded by an exchange between Hesse, as the state chairing the Prime Minister's Conference, the co-chairing state Lower Saxony and the Federal Ministry of Labor. This involved necessary changes to the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act in order to create uniform framework conditions.

According to the "Bild" newspaper, the agreement between the 14 federal states on the payment card from the end of January states: "The federal government has promised the states that it will quickly adapt the law."

A state led by the SPD told SPIEGEL: The core issue is whether the payment card is mentioned in the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act. At the last federal-state round in December, it was clear that the federal government considered such a change to the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act to be correct in order to create legal certainty.

Background: In November, the federal and state governments agreed to introduce the payment card in the course of 2024. In the future, asylum seekers will receive part of the state benefits as credit instead of as cash payment on a credit-based debit card without an account connection. According to the agreements, the countries can determine the exact structure themselves. The technical possibilities should be uniform across the country.

In a second step, at the end of January, 14 federal states joined an award procedure for this technical design, which was developed by Hamburg. Only Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania go their own way when it comes to awarding.

The aim of the payment card is, among other things, to prevent refugees from transferring state funds to smugglers or to their homeland. In fact, the federal government has no information whatsoever on how high the remittances actually are by recipients of asylum seeker benefits.

With regard to the payment card, the Union is also putting pressure on the traffic light government and especially Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “The Chancellor must now speak out in favor of a realpolitik course for the traffic light on migration,” demanded Hesse’s CDU Prime Minister and head of the Prime Minister’s Conference, Boris Rhein, to the dpa. The payment card is an important step “to reduce incentives for irregular migration, prevent misuse of asylum benefits and combat smugglers.”

There have recently been calls from the CSU for a tougher design of the map. CSU politician Stephan Pilsinger told the Editorial Network Germany (RND) that asylum seekers should not be allowed to buy alcohol with the money on the payment cards. Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder had also announced similar restrictions. According to the RND report, the federal government does not consider such a blanket restriction to be constitutionally possible.

Attacks from the opposition, and now also quarrels within our own ranks on this issue: SPD man Lars Castellucci, deputy chairman of the Interior Committee in the Bundestag, urges the traffic light parties to be united. »If millions take to the streets for democracy, the elected Democrats must also show that democracy works. The coalition must stop arguing publicly about every bugbear," he tells SPIEGEL.

(With material from dpa and AFP)