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Family Minister Paus (Greens) and Finance Minister Lindner (FDP)

Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa

The FDP and the Greens continue to disagree about how to tackle child poverty. The FDP does not consider further negotiations in the coalition on basic child security to make sense as things currently stand. Leading parliamentary group representatives accused Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) of not yet having presented a negotiable proposal. “Only she knows why the family minister is clinging to illusory demands that cannot be implemented,” said FDP parliamentary group deputy Christoph Meyer to the AFP news agency on Tuesday.

Johannes Vogel, Parliamentary Managing Director of the FDP parliamentary group, also considers Paus's proposal to be inadequate. "Why the Family Ministry has just now repeated the old and absurd demand for 5,000 new jobs seems puzzling," Vogel told the German Press Agency. Basic child security must be about digitizing processes and reducing bureaucracy rather than building it up, emphasized Vogel, who is also deputy federal chairman of his party.

"It's Lisa Paus' secret as to how 5,000 new jobs will lead to less bureaucracy."

The FDP's criticism is primarily sparked by Paus's plan to create 5,000 new administrative jobs in order to pay out the planned basic child benefits. "Lisa Paus' demand for thousands of additional positions for new parallel structures in public administration is completely unrealistic," said parliamentary group deputy Meyer to AFP.

The FDP politician pointed out that one of the agreed goals of basic child welfare was to reduce bureaucracy. "It is also Lisa Paus's secret as to how 5,000 new positions in the bureaucratic apparatus should lead to less bureaucracy," he said.

The coalition agreed on basic child security last summer, but many details of implementation are still open. It is considered the Greens' prestige socio-political project. So far it is planned that the law will come into force in 2025 - but there are now doubts about this schedule within the coalition.

Paus is optimistic that basic child welfare will come

The Family Ministry's draft stipulates that parents register their child for basic child support and give their consent that data can be compared. According to the Family Ministry, they don't have to do anything more. The authorities should then “proactively approach potential claimants to apply for the benefit”. Services no longer have to be requested, but are actively offered - according to the draft, "a paradigm shift away from the principle of the obligation to collect to the principle of the obligation to deliver."

Current benefits such as child benefit or child allowance for poorer families should be bundled. The traffic light government wants to combat child poverty more effectively.

The coalition estimates around 2.4 billion euros for the planned start year of 2025 to combine the services and administrative costs. Paus had originally demanded a much higher amount, but the FDP-led Federal Ministry of Finance opposed higher spending.

Following concerns from the Federal Employment Agency and the Federal Council, the federal government announced in December that it would review the schedule. Paus was recently optimistic that basic child support would come.

lpz/AFP/dpa