Kretschmer: Payment card to make payment in origin more difficult

Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has welcomed the agreement reached by the traffic light coalition on payment cards for asylum seekers in principle. Now it depends on the exact details, he said in an initial reaction to the German Press Agency in Chemnitz. The payment card is important to make it more difficult for refugees to make transfer payments to their countries of origin. A nationwide regulation would create legal clarity.

The issue of the payment card had caused a dispute within the coalition of the traffic light coalition, which has now been resolved. There had recently been concerns among the Greens. The payment card is to be explicitly included as an option in the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act. Each adult member of a household entitled to benefits is to receive their own payment card. The specific design of the payment card is to be the responsibility of the federal states, which had agreed on minimum standards in a working group.