Federal Minister of Family Affairs Karin Prien (CDU) criticized the Social Democrat (SPD) resistance to planned cuts to the child support supplement, urging her coalition partner to demonstrate reliability. Speaking to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, Prien stated clearly, “I want to say this very clearly: The cuts to family benefits were decided upon by the coalition.”
As the minister, she asserted that coalition decisions are binding, framing the matter as one of political and legal integrity-and sound judgment. She added that proper political operation requires reliable partners, even when dealing with unpopular choices.
The SPD had stood against Prien’s proposals to reduce the state-funded child support payment for single parents due to budgetary concerns. On Monday, the SPD presidium adopted a document proposing alternative action, rather than cuts, focused on instituting additional measures to collect more money from parents who default on their payments.
Earlier in July, Prien had announced that, due to strict austerity requirements, the child support supplement would henceforth only be granted until a child reaches age 16, instead of the previous age of 18.
Prien stressed that the federal government was committed to implementing austerity measures because of the budget situation-demands also put forward by the SPD in various regional and local administrations. The SPD, and particularly the SPD-led Federal Ministry of Finance, had taken part in this effort. Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, who is also the SPD leader, had mandated rigorous savings across all departments in response to significant budget deficits.
Prien concluded by stating that she would welcome it if the same parties that agreed to the savings were now retracting their support. She underlined that the Federal Finance Minister was already investing too little, especially in early childhood education.
