German interior ministers push to restrict EU citizens' access to benefits

Germany’s interior ministers are considering ways to limit EU citizens’ access to long-term unemployment benefits and child benefits. Here’s what we know so far:

Stricter rules for EU citizens claiming German benefits

At the Conference of Interior Ministers (IMK) in Hamburg, interior ministers representing Germany’s 16 federal states have been considering paths to limit EU citizens’ access to long-term unemployment benefit (Bürgergeld, now Grundsicherung) and child benefits (Kindergeld).

More specifically, according to a report from taz, ministers want eastern European EU citizens who have only been working in Germany for a short time to have limited access to long-term unemployment benefits. 

Ministers also want to make it more difficult for certain EU citizens to claim child benefits. Currently, regardless of their nationality, all parents who legally reside in Germany are entitled to benefits to offset the cost of raising children. All parents receive the same benefit payment per month, currently 259 euros per child. 

Under EU law, so long as the parent is in work subject to German social security contributions, receiving unemployment or sickness benefit, Germany is also obliged to pay benefits to parents whose children live in another EU state. People with refugee or asylum seeker status in Germany are also entitled to child benefit.

Now, ministers are considering whether parents who are EU citizens living in Germany should have reduced entitlement to child benefits if their child does not live in the federal republic.

According to Bild, the ministers’ draft resolution states that fraudulent social security claims “jeopardise public acceptance of social security benefits, undermine the integrity and effectiveness of state support mechanisms, and place a considerable strain on social security systems and the national budget across the country”. 

Hamburg Interior Minister Andy Grote (SPD) also wants to make it easier for authorities to deport people who are found to have defrauded the social security system, “regardless of their country of origin”. 

How common is benefit fraud in Germany?

It is difficult to determine how common benefit fraud is in Germany because there are no official nationwide statistic on the matter, and of course, fraudsters don’t tend to share their own stats. But according to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) the German social security system is currently victim to exploitation by “mafia-like structures”. 

So what can we deduce from the available statistics? Over the course of 2025, around 2,9 million people claimed unemployment benefits (Arbeitslosengeld) and long-term unemployment benefits (Bürgergeld). 

The Jobcenter found 110.010 cases of suspected or confirmed fraud, and 406 of these cases involved fraud by criminal organisations. This means that of the total 2,9 million claims last year, just 3,79 percent involved suspected or confirmed fraud and 0,014 percent are known to have involved organised crime. 

Though it is a widely discussed topic, it is also difficult to find nationwide statistics on suspected or confirmed cases of child benefit fraud last year. What do we know for sure? In 2025, the German government paid out a total of 58,6 billion euros in child benefits to support parents raising 17,5 million children. 

According to the German Association of Taxpayers (Bund der Steuerzahler Deutschland e.V.), just 300.000 (1,7 percent) of these children do not live in Germany. This means that the number of cases of parents fraudulently claiming child benefit for children who live in another EU member state is likely to be below 1 percent of total claims.