Federal Family Minister Prien is re-examining the parental allowance reform

Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien apparently wants to re-examine the reform of parental allowance. She told the Germany editorial network that after the summer's debates, she advocated "that we sit down together again and see whether the savings measures for parental allowance are effective and justified to this extent."

When asked whether it would be conceivable not to reduce the months of parental allowance from 14 to twelve months, Prien said: "I'm open to that." The coalition is currently discussing various options and is calculating these with a view to the budget situation.

According to Prien, the distribution of parental allowance months between partners could also change. “We talk about all the adjustment screws,” she said. No model has been decided on yet.

Prien's plans for cuts were met with a lot of criticism

Like all ministries, Prien's department must make savings. In the summer, a draft for a parental allowance reform was drawn up under the strict austerity requirements and submitted to the other departments for approval.

This envisages a reduction in the duration of benefits by two months - from 14 to 12. Three months of parental allowance are therefore reserved for each parent. The partners can share their time between themselves for another six months. So if only one of them takes parental leave, there would be a maximum of nine months of help from the state.