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Berlin (dts news agency) – The debate about the content of basic child security continues. As the “Rheinische Post” (Friday edition) reports, the SPD is campaigning for benefit claims that go beyond financial benefits, while the FDP sees the measure primarily as a modernization of social administration.
In the discussion about the planned basic child security, SPD parliamentary secretary Katja Mast confirmed that her party is not just about money for poor families. “With the highest increase in child benefit at the beginning of the year, we have already taken an important first step,” said Mast of the “Rheinische Post”. It is important to her that basic child security is not just about financial expenses. “Even non-monetary benefits, such as an all-day entitlement to childcare, are important building blocks in the fight against child poverty,” said the parliamentary group’s first parliamentary manager.
“Basic child security is a socio-political milestone,” says Mast. No child should grow up in poverty. Steps towards basic child security “are first clarified in the government and then in parliament. As is the case with the budget – it is also ultimately passed in parliament,” said the SPD politician.
The FDP, on the other hand, wants administrative reform above all. “My goal is that the money actually goes to the children who depend on it,” said Christian Dürr, leader of the FDP parliamentary group, to the “Rheinische Post” (Friday). “The crux of the basic child security is the modernization of our social administration, not the amount of benefits,” says Dürr. “The state offers support in many places, but the money often doesn’t reach the children because the parents have to deal with a tangle of bureaucracy.” In addition, the range of services has become so confusing in recent years that many families do not even know whether they can apply for a subsidy for the next school trip. “That’s where our reform starts: We want to simplify, digitize and remove hurdles,” said the FDP politician. The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, also sees the additional costs for basic child security as a good investment. “Basic child security has been the most important tool of social policy for decades to significantly reduce child poverty in Germany, which is far too high, as it should significantly improve financial support for children in low-income households,” said Fratzscher of the “Rheinische Post”. The economy and society as a whole would also benefit. “Because basic child security improves equal opportunities and social participation and will thus relieve the social systems in the long term and also help to close the gap in skilled workers a little,” said the economist. “The additional costs for basic child security are the best investments that the federal government can make, and they are also small compared to the huge subsidies that the German state has spent on fossil fuels and companies in recent years,” says Fratzscher. “Some people’s rejection of basic child security is pure political opportunism that damages the economy and society.”
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