Government has to pay 250 million euros more for basic security - Greens accuse Union of “brazen lie”.

The federal government has to make more than planned expenditure in the current year in order to cover additional costs for basic security, i.e. the previous citizen's benefit. An extra 250 million euros is due, which the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has applied for. This emerges from a letter from the Ministry of Finance informing the Budget Committee about the additional costs. The letter is available to the “Tagesspiegel”.

For 2026, the federal budget had earmarked a good 28 billion euros for the standard rates, which will be paid out monthly to those receiving basic benefits. In addition, there are 13 billion euros for the federal government to contribute to the costs of accommodation and heating for those receiving basic benefits - the rest is borne by the municipalities. In addition, there are a good 5 billion euros in administrative costs and almost 5 billion euros for integration into work.

For the first two items, the costs are now different than planned: more has to be spent on the standard rates than estimated, and less on accommodation and heating. Ultimately, the federal government is left with an additional burden of 250 million euros.

The letter from Parliamentary State Secretary Dennis Rohde (SPD) gives reasons for the additional costs: It was not foreseeable how high the additional contributions from statutory health insurance companies would be. A corresponding additional payment from the federal government was significantly higher than in previous years. In addition, reference is made to “expenditure-increasing conditions” in the federal contribution to the costs of housing and heating. Since basic security is a legal claim of those affected, the federal government has no choice but to finance the payments.

The reform, with which citizens' money was converted into basic security, came into force in the summer. The Union had originally promised billions in savings. But it has long been clear that this is unrealistic. The Ministry of Labor recently pointed out that savings had been recorded since the summer, around 100 million euros per month compared to the same month last year.

Timon Dzienus, chairman of the Green parliamentary group in the Labor and Social Affairs Committee, now says: "The savings announced through the reform of citizens' money have been a blatant lie since day one. With the new basic security you don't save a cent, but in the first year you have additional costs of 250 million euros." Dzienus speaks of “Merz’s sanctions fetishism,” which saves no money and deprives people of their future. “The Union should be ashamed of its shabby campaign.”

Dzienus considers sanctions to be “labour market policy nonsense”. If you really want to save money, get people with new qualifications into good jobs. The welfare state is not a luxury, but an insurance policy for all people who work. “Instead of further sanctions, we need more opportunities for a self-determined life; instead of fear, we need support and further training.”

In previous years there had been significantly higher over-plan spending for basic security or, at the time, citizens' money. In 2024, for example, 3.2 billion euros had to be injected.