Overview
- Organizers published a text denouncing planned tightening of SGB II as inhuman and urging no harsher sanctions or cuts to housing and heating, with 167 initial signatories including Juso leader Philipp Türmer and MEP Maria Noichl.
- An SPD spokeswoman said no petition has been formally filed with the party board, stressing that only signatures collected on the official SPD platform count under the rules.
- Under the procedure described, supporters have two months to gather signatures from at least 1% of members to initiate the process and then three months to reach 20% for success, after which the party executive decides next steps.
- The coalition’s reform package would tighten eligibility from 2026 by requiring assets to be used first, ending the housing grace period, and accelerating benefit cuts for missed appointments or rejected offers, with potential rent and heating cuts flagged as legally sensitive.
- Union figures warned against using internal petitions to unravel coalition compromises and said implementation will proceed, while reporting notes the agreed changes yield only about 0.2% in savings and face constitutional limits on cutting the subsistence minimum.