Federal Council does not want payment cards for asylum seekers
Published: Thursday, May 2nd 2024, 12:00
Back to Live Feed
The Federal Council considers payment cards for asylum seekers to be a poorly targeted idea. It is "questionable whether the introduction of payment cards instead of cash could actually combat or even prevent abuse". Germany recently decided to introduce such a card.
This is what the national government writes in its response to an interpellation by Mike Egger (SVP/SG) published on Thursday. Furthermore, it is the responsibility and discretion of the cantons to decide whether and to what extent social assistance should be paid in cash or in kind. "The federal government has no right of instruction or supervision in this area," writes the government.
In Germany, the federal and state governments recently agreed that in future, asylum seekers will no longer receive part of their financial social assistance in cash, but in the form of a debit card. This is to prevent the money from being misused. Egger fears that asylum seekers could now move from Germany to Switzerland, where they will continue to receive cash.
According to the Federal Council, it is currently difficult to assess the effectiveness of debit cards instead of cash. However, it considers the risk of cash benefits being misused or even abused to be low, as it writes on the motion. However, abuse cannot be completely ruled out with any system.
If the cantons pay out cash benefits, they are also free to decide on the form of payment - for example, in the form of cash payments over the counter, electronic payment systems such as bank transfers or debit cards. The cantonal governments in Zurich and Baselland, for example, recently announced that they reject the introduction of a payment card for asylum seekers.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic