Germany deals with surge in welfare applications

This is what happens when you have a welfare cradle to the grave system, welfare sluts are created and with a recent court ruling, its going to get bigger.

Job centres in Germany have been flooded by applications for welfare payments following a Constitutional Court ruling that could pave the way for Hartz IV benefits to be raised, daily Bild reported Tuesday.

In a development that is likely to stoke the already heated debate about the generosity – or otherwise – of the Hartz IV system, the head of the Federal Employment Office, Heinrich Alt, has told the paper people were coming in seeking payments that had to be summarily rejected.

“Following the Hartz IV ruling, we are being overwhelmed by applications for certain benefits,” he said. “We have to dismiss many of (the applicants), as they are for most part in no particular hardship.

''The Constitutional Court has determined that it’s not about a broken washing machine but rather about serious individual cases, such as a particular illness, for which the health insurance fund isn’t paying.”

Alt’s comments follow days of heated debate on the issue – largely centred around Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle’s fiery rhetoric about what he perceives as the generosity of the nation’s welfare system.

Among other things, he has claimed workers were fast becoming the nation’s “suckers” and said Germany was resembling the “decadent” late-Roman period.

...Last week, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Hartz IV system of unemployment benefits was essentially unconstitutional – a decision that could lead to a hike in payments.