PRESS STATEMENT IG Metall on the Report of the Commission on the Welfare State

“Positive ideas that must now be carefully implemented! The Social State Commission has put forward numerous proposals that are conceptually sound and welcome: simplifying the social state without curtailing it. These are exactly the kinds of signs of progress we need right now!

However, when it comes to concrete implementation, the report remains vague in places. The next steps following a meaningful boost must now be quickly defined. You can’t bake a cake with unlaid eggs.

Bundling social benefits, adopting flat-rate payments, lowering exemption thresholds, or increasing the rate at which income is counted toward benefits must mean less bureaucracy, not fewer benefits! Cuts must be ruled out. Given tight budgets, strict funding constraints, and the differing interests of the parties involved, we must keep a close eye on this risk.”

Further information and press photos of Christiane Benner