Ricarda Lang, a former politician from the Green Party and social policy expert, has strongly criticized the government’s reform plans concerning parental allowance. Speaking to the Funke Media Group newspapers, Lang stated that the proposed reduction of the maximum eligibility period by two months translates directly into “less money, less reliability, and less predictability.”
Lang argued that many young families would struggle even to manage the planned maximum duration of twelve months. She pointed out that young couples often cannot afford for one parent to forgo a higher salary for three months, a sacrifice usually made by the father. Consequently, the effective duration would likely drop to only nine, ten, or eleven months, forcing mothers to compensate for the lost time by taking unpaid leave until their children start kindergarten.
The Green Party politician further argued that the government is using gender equality as a mere token gesture to implement cost-cutting measures, concluding, “No family will benefit from this.” She insisted that if the government wishes to reduce spending on families, it should not be surprised by persistently low birth rates.
Regarding the increase in parental leave for fathers, Lang believes that structural conditions are often lacking. She criticized the government for failing to improve these conditions, citing insufficient daycare spots, rigid working hours, and lack of equal pay for women.
Adding to her concerns, Lang felt that the modest adjustment to the minimum and maximum allowance amounts was insufficient. She argued that while this adjustment was long overdue after twenty years, it is not even enough to compensate for two decades of inflation. She called for the minimum and maximum allowance rates to be regularly and automatically adjusted to reflect price changes.
The context of these discussions is a legal draft proposed by Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU), which intends to limit the maximum basic parental allowance period to twelve months. This plan reserves three months of leave for each parent, with six additional months that can be distributed freely.
