The new minister president of land Saxony-Anhalt (equivalent to an autonomy in Spain), the social democrat Sven Schulze, has shaken the social debate in Germany with a controversial proposal: that the beneficiaries of the Bürgergeldthe German basic unemployment income, carry out community work for municipalities to “compensate” the aid and maintain the subsidy.
The German right sees this as a way to reinforce the individual responsibility of those who receive the benefit, but experts warn of the legal and practical obstacles that would be involved in forcing beneficiaries to carry out this community work.
Schulze’s idea. He newly elected Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt from the end of 2025 and member of the CDU (the German conservative party), launched his proposal in an interview with the diary Bild am Sonntag: that the people who receive the Bürgergeld (unemployment benefit), do useful tasks for their town councils and communities.
“There are services that can be provided and that are justified by the money received. For example, volunteering in a community, raking leaves or removing snow in winter. Why can’t healthy people who are currently unemployed also do it?” declared the German politician.
According what was published by Die ZeitSchulze is so convinced of his idea that he plans to test it first in his region of eastern Germany, criticizing the federal government’s bureaucratic excuses for not imposing it generally.
He Bürgergeld and jobs at one euro. He Bürgergeld (literally, citizen money) is the basic economic aid that Germany has been giving since 2023 to those who have already exhausted their unemployment benefits and they have no income sufficient, replacing controversial Hartz IV (officially Arbeitslosengeld II). This benefit covers basic needs such as food, rent and clothing that are calculated at about 563 euros per month per person while they find a job.
For their part, the so-called “one euro jobs”: these are subsidized temporary jobs where the State adds between 1 euro and 2.60 extra euros per hour to the employee’s minimum wage in tasks of public interest such as park maintenance or social assistance. That is, these “one euro jobs” would act as a complement to the unemployment benefit they already receive.
The problem: in Germany you can choose your job. Schulze’s proposal involves making “one euro jobs” go from being voluntary to mandatory for those who receive unemployment benefits (except for the sick or new parents). This measure revives the old demands of Carsten Linnemann, general secretary of the CDU, who since 2023 has been calling for a reform that allows those who have been receiving aid for more than six months to be obliged to do community work.
The main problem with this claim is that, to apply it, it would be necessary to modify the German Constitution. The German Magna Carta details in its article 12 that citizens have the freedom to choose employment and prohibits forced laborexcept in public emergencies or judicial penalties. So the unemployed cannot be forced to work against his will.
Doubts about the effectiveness of this measure. The IAB Institute analyzed in 2023 jobs at one euro and concluded that they give structure and routine to unemployed people far from the labor market, but they have a negative impact on those who have options to reintegrate into the labor market since the time they must dedicate to these community jobs is not being invested in looking for stable employment.
The CDU argues that the measure would free up municipal budgets and teaches the value of the effort, but opponents see it as a stigma for the most vulnerable employees, ignoring root problems such as lack of training.
The political debate in Germany. With the CDU/CSU strengthened after the last federal election, conservative leaders such as Friedrich Merz call for cuts in subsidies for those who reject job offers. Towns like Barnim (Brandenburg) or Greiz They are already testing local versionsalthough with lawsuits for illegality.
From progressive positions, SPD and Greens call it demagoguery that distracts from investing in education and daycare and accuse the CDU of promoting precarious jobs for 80 cents an hour.
Image | Unsplash (Christian Wiediger, Eva Evada)
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