Berliners on benefits will be required to clean up the city’s streets under tough proposals from the centre-Right Christian Democrats (CDU) party.
Stefan Evers, the leader of the CDU party in the German capital, said he would put able-bodied benefits claimants on clean-up duties if he wins city elections in September.
“I believe that those who receive government benefits and are able to work should also give something back to the community, for example, by helping to keep Berlin clean,” Mr Evers told German newspaper FAZ.
While Berlin has “never been sterile”, he warned of an “unacceptable” amount of rubbish in the streets and also pledged to increase fines for litterers.
Stefan Evers, left, the Berlin CDU party leader, and Kai Wegner, the outgoing mayor. Mr Evers said claimants ‘should give something back to the community’ – Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty
Berliners will head to the polls on Sept 20 to elect a new government for the city, which is currently led by Kai Wegner, the outgoing CDU mayor.
The call for Berliners who claim benefits to carry out community work is the latest new rule from the CDU as it cracks down on perceived laziness in German society.
Friedrich Merz, the chancellor, has claimed that Germans do not work long enough hours and have become addicted to a permissive culture of working from home and taking too many sick days.
Germany has been known in recent years as “the sick man of Europe”.
Mr Merz’s government passed a reform earlier this month that bans Germans from taking time off work sick without producing a sick note given to them following an in-person visit to a GP.
German trade unions say the new rules will be a nightmare to enforce and will probably overwhelm doctors’ surgeries as they are forced to take on a substantial increase in appointments.
They have also warned that the German government is creating “a culture of distrust of employees” and forcing extra red tape on employers.
However, supporters of the measure point out that Germans take on average 15 sick days per year, or three working weeks, compared with just four days in Britain.
The CDU-led federal government, which governs alongside the centre-Left Social Democrats, has also moved to raise the retirement age to 70 to counter the country’s ageing population.
“We must work more and, above all, more efficiently in this country. With a four-day week and work-life balance, we won’t be able to maintain this country’s prosperity,” Mr Merz warned in May.
Germany’s economy is struggling under the weight of rising unemployment, a sharp decline in its car industry and an ongoing energy price crisis fuelled by the war in Ukraine.
The Merz government has said that the only way to maintain “prosperity” for ordinary Germans is to take difficult decisions on perks and lax rules that were once taken for granted.
