Thuringian SPD District Administrator Matthias Jendricke is demanding a mandatory nationwide work requirement for eligible recipients of Bürgergeld (Citizen’s Income) and is pushing for new methods to ensure its enforcement.Speaking to the magazine Stern ahead of the German District Council meeting in Berlin, he stressed that laws must be consistently enforced, specifically through the deployment of a uniformed enforcement service. He argued that this would not require hiring additional staff, as every job center, district, and independent city already has qualified personnel who could undertake this task now.
The social democrat, who has served as the district administrator for Nordhausen since 2015, called upon Federal Labour Minister Bärbel Bas to recognize the reality of the situation. He pointed out that after the Bundestag election, the SPD chairperson launched a fight against organized crime and associated systemic social fraud, but ultimately failed to deliver. Furthermore, he noted that the reform of the Bürgergeld system arrived far too late.
“Instead, the SPD leadership explains to us after every election in which we lost even more workers to the AfD that we will refocus on our tradition as a workers’ party” Jendricke stated. He concluded by criticizing the political strategy, observing that thereafter, welfare policies continue to be expanded for transfer recipients, while the working middle class is completely abandoned by national politics.
