Cross-party backlash erupts over proposed cuts to child maintenance payments
Berlin. Proposals by local government associations to cut advance maintenance payments have met with broad criticism in the Bundestag.
Jasmina Hostert, the SPD parliamentary group's spokesperson for family policy, firmly rejects any reductions to the advance maintenance system. "Advance maintenance payments are a crucial and effective safeguard when one parent fails to meet their financial obligations," Hostert told Welt. "Reversing the 2017 reforms would hit thousands of single parents hard."
Instead, she argued, authorities must take stronger action against those who can afford child support but evade payment. "Those who could pay but refuse must be held more accountable. This serves both the child's best interests and the overall credibility of the support system."
The German Association of Cities, the County Council Association, and the Association of Towns and Municipalities had proposed rolling back the 2017 reform, under which the state covers payments for delinquent parents. At the time, the maximum age for eligible children was raised from 12 to 18, and the previous six-year benefit cap was abolished. According to local government figures, costs have quadrupled since then.
Heidi Reichinnek, leader of the Left Party's parliamentary group, called the austerity list "an absolute disgrace." "Children, young people, and families are facing a brutal wave of cuts," she told Welt. "The very idea of drawing up a list that measures proposals solely by their savings potential—without regard for the severe and far-reaching consequences for those affected—is incomprehensible." She warned that the plans amount to "driving the economy off a cliff," with supposed short-term savings leading to far greater long-term costs.
Misbah Khan, deputy leader of the Green Party's parliamentary group, told Welt that the proposals fit "seamlessly into a pattern we've already seen from this federal government: cutting support for the most vulnerable instead of strengthening them." Denying assistance to children and young people today, she argued, squanders the opportunities of tomorrow's generation. "Reductions in advance maintenance payments would directly harm hundreds of thousands of children and their single parents."
Martin Reichardt, the AfD parliamentary group's family policy spokesperson, also opposed the proposed cuts. "Advance maintenance payments must remain in their current form," he said. "The planned changes could indeed increase pressure on delinquent payers—but this must not come at the expense of custodial parents or their children." He argued that savings should instead be sought in Ukraine aid and measures addressing illegal migration.
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