The German Greens are opportunistic in many areas, but they combine this with principledness in their core issues. So they have a clearly recognizable identity and yet can hang their flag after the wind: moral avant-garde, combined with realpolitischen flexibility.
The Greens are seeing very good results in elections and polls, which particularly pleases their many followers in the media. There are at least two green parties: the pragmatists, who are responsible in the federal states, and the utopians at the federal level, who do not yet govern and therefore make the world happy with all sorts of well-being suggestions. The front man of the second party is Robert Habeck, the ideal son-in-law for the mother of the ’68 generation. He is modern, urban, recently Twitter-abstinent and kind of cuddly, so he is not blamed, not the biggest nonsense.
The latest gimmick from the department opportunism: an unconditional basic income instead of Hartz IV. If the proposal of party leader Habeck reality, socialism would be no longer red, but green.
Habeck wants to abolish Hartz IV and replace it with an unconditional basic security. The main points: There is no longer a job search obligation, sanctions are abolished, and benefits increase significantly. „The people should not be forced to make appointments with the job center or to seek work,“ is the credo of the party leader.
The additional costs for the green land of milk and honey are estimated by the green to 30 billion euros annually. By comparison, the budget for the Bundeswehr totaled 38.5 billion in 2018 – only slightly more than Habeck’s increase in social assistance would cost.
Georg Cremer, the longtime Secretary General of the Caritas Association, summarizes the Habeck Plan and similar ideas soberly: „A basic income at the level of Hartz IV can be financed if we renounce the welfare state as we know it.“ Cremer is retired Chief of the main Catholic charity no apostle of social cold. Nevertheless, he vehemently rejects the „radical decoupling of existence and work“.
Wes is the child of Habeck, he reveals in a debate paper. He complains that welfare recipients have to give 80 percent of the wage if they earn something extra. That’s unfair. Above all, it is not discussed, „while in Germany is always talked about a too early onset of the top tax rate of 42 percent.“ Habeck thus equates the money that a person receives from the state (and that is the reason why he has to give up so much of the additional income) without any inconvenience to the income of an employee who makes a living out of his own resources. Both are obviously the same for him, and the state can redistribute both at will.
The reason for Habecks phantasmagoria could be the state elections 2019 in Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony. In all East German countries, there are relatively many Germans who receive social assistance, and everywhere the Greens score relatively poorly. The green leader himself knows that his redistribution of de luxe never becomes a reality. But he hopes to catch East German mice with bacon.
Especially since Habeck can do it very differently. After the Greens have scared off potential voters in earlier Bundestag election campaigns with the announcement of tax increases, Habeck is now learning: „We said then, the rich should participate more. When people realized that we are talking about annual incomes of 60,000 to 80,000 euros, they rightly went to the ceiling. „The middle class, which in the past has always had to pay higher social benefits, should get away with basic security this time , Numbers should rather American Internet companies by means of a digital tax.
Thus, the Greens have something for everyone, for the Hartz IV recipients and the counsellor. However, both should not rely too much on the promise that the Greens will give something to everyone, but will not take anything from anyone. If the party governs in Berlin in the not-too-distant future and has to finance its conflicting goals, then it should quickly forget such promises. In the red-green coalition under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder they practiced
