Chancellor Merz says welfare ‘cuts’ needed as Germany pays €46.9b in basic income

In 2024, Germany paid out around €46.9 billion ($54.3 billion) in basic income support to around 5.5 million beneficiaries.

The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is therefore calling for reforms in the country’s social benefits system because it is becoming unaffordable. On Saturday he stressed the need for major reforms to social benefits, a day after figures showed the number of unemployed topping three million for the first time in over a decade.

“The way things are now, especially with regard to the so-called citizen’s income, cannot and will not stay the same,” Merz told a regional conference of his conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) in the western city of Bonn.

He was referring to state financial support for individuals and families who cannot cover their basic living costs with their own income or assets.

In 2024, the state paid out around €46.9 billion ($54.3 billion) in basic income support to around 5.5 million recipients.

The system in place today is simply no longer affordable, the chancellor said.

“We have been living beyond our means for years,” Merz said, adding that it was not the recipients of benefits who were responsible for this situation, but the politicians.

Changes must simultaneously be made to promote employment and growth, added the chancellor, who is the CDU’s national chairman.

The government wants to ensure that the younger generation also has the chance to enjoy prosperity and secure jobs, he added.

This is “a difficult path” but he is “determined to take this path and get this coalition to truly renew the country,” Merz said. “This will mean painful decisions. It will mean cuts.”

Source: dpa

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