German authorities to strengthen efforts to combat social benefits misuse, minister says
Germany’s new federal labor minister, Bärbel Bas, has emphasized the need for a more effective data exchange to combat large-scale misuse of social benefits. The minister, a member of the Social Democratic Party, emphasized the importance of cooperation between the federal government, states and local authorities, from financial authorities to job centers, family offices and law enforcement agencies.
Bas also called for a stricter verification of individuals’ eligibility for freedom of movement, citing instances of exploitation, where people are lured from other European countries and employed as day laborers. “Some people are picked up in a van and exploited” the minister said, adding that the public often wonders why authorities fail to act and that a more robust approach is needed.
The minister pointed to a similar phenomenon in her hometown of Duisburg, where individuals from other European countries are lured to Germany with fake job contracts, only to be exploited and have their social benefits claimed by the exploiters. “These are mafialike structures that we must dismantle” Bas stressed, highlighting the need for a coordinated effort to combat social benefits misuse in Germany.