Overview

• Chancellor Friedrich Merz is pressing for at least a ten percent cut — roughly €5 billion — to Bürgergeld spending, sharpening a fight over the program’s costs.
• The Labour Ministry is preparing a reform focused on stricter duties for recipients, while official estimates put achievable savings closer to about €1.5 billion and tie bigger relief to more job placements, with IAB calculating €3 billion if 100,000 move into work.
• Outlays rose to €47 billion in 2024, up about nine percent mainly from inflation-indexed rates, and the benefit levels are not increasing this year or next, which amounts to a real-terms reduction.
• Housing reimbursements dominate expenditures and are governed by local ‘adequacy’ rules that still require paying rent and heating even under sanctions; Hamburg data show high per‑square‑meter costs mostly in larger households, with single‑tenant averages around €17 per square meter.
• IG Metall leader Christiane Benner rejects claims the welfare state is unaffordable and warns against scapegoating, even as a WELT/ARD poll finds 86 percent support tougher sanctions; nationally about 5.5 million receive benefits, including many children and Ukrainian refugees, and Hamburg reports roughly 200,000 recipients with many lacking formal qualifications.