Wegner: Nationwide solution for payment card would be better

Berlin's governing mayor Kai Wegner would prefer a uniform nationwide approach to the introduction of a payment card for asylum seekers. "I would be delighted if we had uniform rules on this throughout Germany," said the CDU politician in the House of Representatives on Thursday. "Unfortunately, two federal states are not taking part in the tendering process, namely Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania."

"We are now waiting for the bids as part of this tender. Then we'll see what we implement with many other federal states." Wegner rejected criticism of the plans from the ranks of the Berlin Greens. "I don't want a payment card like this to be discriminatory under any circumstances," he emphasized. "I'm not talking about switching to benefits in kind or anything else. It's about converting a payment system."

There are also different positions on the payment card, which is intended to replace cash payments, within the coalition of the traffic light coalition. The SPD and FDP believe that federal legislation is necessary to accompany this. The Greens do not believe this is necessary. The dispute does not help with this issue, said Wegner.

Payment card should reduce bureaucracy

In his view, the aim is to simplify the process. "We also want to reduce bureaucracy, that's the aim of the payment card. We agreed on this in the Berlin Senate and that's why we took part in this tender."

At the end of January, 14 of the 16 federal states agreed on a joint tender process for the introduction of a payment card for asylum seekers, which should be completed by the summer. The card is also intended to prevent migrants from transferring money to smugglers or family and friends abroad. In November, the project was the subject of a federal-state meeting with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).