German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) has called for stricter control over child benefit payments for children living outside Germany whose parents are in Germany, reported the daily Bild on Sunday.
“We are working on strengthening controls and on a new law that would improve the effectiveness of controls,” Olaf Scholz said in the Sunday edition of Bild.
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He stated that the vast majority of child benefit payments for children living in any of the European Union countries are processed correctly.
“In over 90 percent of cases, the payments are in order, but the fact is that we must fight against existing abuse,” Scholz said.
He emphasized that his Social Democratic Party is fighting for child benefits for children in the EU abroad to be adjusted to the benefit of the country where the child lives, rather than being paid as if for children living in Germany.
“But this was rejected by the European Commission, warning about the rule of equal treatment of all EU citizens,” Scholz said.
The background of the discussion about child benefit payments for children in the EU abroad is an appeal from several mayors of German cities who warned of a sharp increase in payments abroad and an increased number of abuses of the rules by citizens of Eastern European EU member states.
“The German government simply ignores the fact that there are economic migrants within the EU. Six years ago, we had about 6,000 Sinti and Roma from Romania and Bulgaria in Duisburg, now there are 19,000,” said Duisburg Mayor Soeren Link (SPD).
The number of child benefit payments abroad in the EU has drastically increased in the last year, now amounting to 268,000, which is ten percent more than in the same period last year.
“The registration of families here in Germany is simple. Where do the children live that are registered, and do they even exist, is a completely different question,” Link said.
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Mayors of other German cities also speak about the organized bringing of Roma families from Bulgaria and Romania and their registration in Germany solely for the purpose of collecting child benefits. In Germany, it amounts to 194 euros for the first and second child, 200 for the third, and from the fourth child 225 euros per month. For five children, families can thus receive 1,038 euros monthly solely based on child benefits.
Statistics for benefit payments abroad for June of this year show that Poland ranks first in the number of payments with 117,000 payments, the Czech Republic with 21,000, Croatia and Romania with 19,000, France and Hungary with 16,000, and Bulgaria with 7,000 child benefit payments.
