SPD MP Helge Lindh calls for a course correction on the controversial citizen’s allowance. According to the “Bild” (Monday edition), Lindh said there needs to be a “genuine paradigm shift with sense and reason.” This would also mean a return to the old Hartz-IV motto “Promote and Demand”. “To prevent erosion of trust in the social system, we must follow an old basic rule: trust is good, control is better.”
Specifically, Lindh wants to link the citizen’s allowance to further conditions: “Benefits only come when actual need is present. If it is not, there are no entitlements either.” Additionally, it is necessary to “control whether the individuals are actually in need and also live at the official address where they have found and registered for asylum”.