Traffic light agrees on payment card: draft leaves authorities room for maneuver
Published: Friday, Apr 5th 2024, 17:20
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After weeks of discussions, the parliamentary groups of the SPD and the Greens have agreed on a draft for a nationwide legal basis for the introduction of a payment card for refugees and asylum seekers. This was announced by the SPD, Green and FDP parliamentary groups in the Bundestag on Friday.
The formulation aid states that the payment card is a suitable means of preventing cash payments to smugglers, for example. It also states that the benefit authorities can decide for themselves how much cash cardholders can withdraw within a certain period of time. This takes into account "the individual needs and circumstances on the ground". "The regulation also enables the benefit authorities to take into account circumstances that make the use of a payment card appear inappropriate in individual cases when exercising their discretion," the draft continues.
On March 1, the cabinet voted in favor of the bill proposed by Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) in order to secure the planned payment card for asylum seekers with a federal law. The federal government thus complied with a request from the federal states. However, it remained unclear for a long time when the bill could be passed by the Bundestag - partly because the Greens wanted some practical issues to be clarified first. They were satisfied with the compromise that has now been reached.
"The pocket money for the school trip, the bus ticket to get to the training place, the electricity or internet connection - all of this must be guaranteed locally with the introduction of payment cards," said Andreas Audretsch, deputy parliamentary group leader of the Greens. FDP parliamentary group vice-chair Lukas Köhler said that the federal states now had the opportunity to make their contribution to a "new migration policy by eliminating one of the main pull factors for irregular immigration".
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