The controversial General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) does not meet all the requirements of the underlying EU directives, according to EU Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla. The "Suddeutsche Zeitung" (Monday edition) reported that Spidla demanded improvements in a letter to the German government. Among other things, registered partnerships of homosexuals should be largely equal to marriage.
Among other things, Spidla criticized the fact that in the public service, especially with regard to benefits such as allowances, family allowances and widow's and widower's benefits, a distinction is made between married couples and couples living together in a civil partnership, the newspaper wrote. According to the commission, it is not a matter of different family statuses. German judges see things differently: "The difference between the marital status 'married' and the marital status 'registered civil partnership' justifies different legal consequences, writes the Federal Administrative Court. (BVerwG, NJW 2000, 2038)."The EU Commissioner also criticizes that employers would only be liable for violations of the prohibition of discrimination if they acted culpably. The Commission expects a response within two months, otherwise an infringement procedure may be initiated, Spidla wrote.
EU confo In an internal paper, the German government does not rule out the possibility that parts of the anti-discrimination law will have to be improved and tightened, the paper reported. Government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm, on the other hand, said that the federal government still considers the law to be in line with EU regulations. This was also confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Justice. Otherwise, the guidelines would not have been passed in this way, said spokeswoman Eva Schmierer. She pointed out that a letter of response to the Commission was currently being coordinated between the ministries concerned.
Opposition from Bavaria Bavaria's Minister for European Affairs Markus Soder (CSU) has rejected EU Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla's criticism of German equality law. The current legal framework already goes to the limits of what is politically justifiable and practically reasonable, Soder said in Munich on Monday. Spidla's demand for legal equality between registered civil partnerships and marriage would be a completely wrong signal. Bavaria would "massively defend itself against this".Soder also stressed that the demands of the EU Commissioner for Social Affairs contribute "to the further inflation" of bureaucracy. The current law already reduces the chances on the labor market for those whom it is supposed to protect. The Equal Treatment Act would have to be "streamlined" and bureaucracy reduced.Wolfgang Bosbach (CDU), vice chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told the "Suddeutsche Zeitung" that his group had already found it difficult to approve the law in its current form. The parliamentary director of the Green Party's parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Volker Beck, on the other hand, said: "Equal treatment of civil partnerships with marriage in tax law and civil servant pensions is overdue.
"Equal duties With the unemployment pay II, with the basic safety device in the age, with reduction in earning capacity and with the social welfare assistance life partners are treated already origin of the law like spouses, i.e., with the examination of their assistance neediness the income and the fortune of the partner are also considered.For wage and income tax purposes, partners in a civil partnership are treated like single people. They are assessed in wage tax class 1 and can only pay possible alimony up to the amount of 7.188 EUR off the tax, even if they support their partner in accordance with their maintenance obligation with higher amounts.According to a ruling by the Federal Labor Court, partnered employees and workers who are employed in the public sector receive the local or. Social supplement for married couples. For civil servants no appropriate regulation is valid yet.