Overview

• CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann demands elimination of Bürgergeld for recipients who repeatedly reject reasonable job offers, saying the system must target those not genuinely in need.
• SPD deputy Dagmar Schmidt calls the proposals an attack on the social state while Green MP Timon Dzienus warns that total sanctions would be inhuman and unconstitutional.
• The Sozialverband Deutschland invited Linnemann to a social counseling session to show that ‘total refusers’ account for under 1% of the 5.4 million recipients and many face genuine hardships.
• Labour Minister Bärbel Bas announced plans to review and possibly sharpen existing sanction tools but ruled out full benefit cuts except in extreme cases.
• Bürgergeld spending rose to nearly €47 billion last year, and the coalition aims to recast it as a ‘Grundsicherung für Arbeitssuchende’ with stronger job placement focus.