ruth901
“Nobody immigrates into our social systems”Bas sticks to the controversial statement – and explains her motive
Bärbel Bas reflects on a statement she made in response to an AfD question.
picture alliance/dpa / Bernd von Jutrczenka
Social Minister Bas received a lot of criticism for her claim that there is no immigration into the social system. But in essence, the SPD leader sticks to her statement – but admits that it falls short. Two social groups should not be played off against each other.
Federal Labor Minister Bärbel Bas has defended her controversial statement that no one would immigrate to the German social system. Her answer to a question from “the right-wingers” in the Bundestag was “unfortunately too short,” said the SPD co-leader at the DGB federal congress in Berlin. “I tried to answer briefly because you don’t have that much time in a government survey.” There are many good reasons why people come to Germany – for example because they are fleeing war and persecution or because they are urgently needed as skilled workers. “I detest it when right-wing extremists (…) play these groups off against each other,” Bas added.
At the same time, Bas emphasized that abuse of social benefits must be combated, as she has made clear since the beginning of her term in office. This is “only fair to those who finance the whole thing with taxes and contributions”. Last week, Bas responded to an AfD MP's repeated question as to why the government was “not saving money on immigration into the social systems”: “No one is immigrating into our social systems.”
The Labor Minister also announced a renewed attempt to find a compromise with unions and employers to change the Working Hours Act. The DGB firmly rejects the project anchored in the coalition agreement with the CDU and CSU. The main aim is to relax the limit of a maximum daily working time of eight hours by a maximum weekly working time.
“If the SPD and I personally have our way, we won’t even touch on the issue of working hours,” admitted Bas. “But it’s in the coalition agreement.” That's why she doesn't want to give up trying to approach the social partners in order to find an agreement. An earlier social partner dialogue on this had failed. She promised trade unionists that she would continue to fight against the dismantling of workers' rights, especially when it comes to health and occupational safety.
Sources used: dsc/rts
