Overview

• Top negotiators agreed to replace Bürgergeld with a New Basic Security that restores a placement-first approach and introduces tougher, staged penalties, including full benefit stops after repeated missed job‑center appointments and potential loss of housing support.
• Chancellor Friedrich Merz signaled enactment by spring 2026, with a draft to be prepared for cabinet and, per a leaked schedule, first cabinet discussion expected around October 29 before Bundestag debate this year.
• DGB chair Yasmin Fahimi condemned the focus on cuts as socially divisive, called the sanction push a response to a minor problem, and said the union federation is keeping strike action on the table.
• Legal scholars and SPD voices questioned constitutionality and effectiveness of full sanctions and housing-cost cuts, and the IW cautioned there will be no short‑term billion‑euro savings even if more people take up work.
• Health Minister Nina Warken circulated proposals to cap 2026 outlays—trimming hospital payment growth, cutting insurer admin costs by €100 million, and reducing the innovation fund by €100 million—while a roughly €2 billion gap prompts debate over higher patient co‑payments backed by CSU and a rival Linke push to raise the contribution ceiling to €15,000.