Bavaria forges ahead:

Payment card instead of cash: pilot project in Bavaria

Bavaria wants to introduce a payment card for asylum seekers as a pilot project in a few weeks' time. The aim is to put a stop to "uncontrolled immigration".

"Our payment card will be faster and tougher" than in other German federal states, wrote Minister President Markus Söder on Sunday in the short message service X. According to Bild, the pilot project will initially be tested in four municipalities.

Cash will only be available there "as small pocket money up to 50 euros", explained Söder. This means that only everyday goods can be purchased in stores. Online shopping, gambling and bank transfers abroad would be stopped. 

"Limiting uncontrolled immigration"
In addition, the card should only be able to be used in the vicinity of the accommodation. "We need an effective limit to uncontrolled immigration as quickly as possible," wrote Söder. "This requires a reduction in the incentives to come to Germany."

"There is no more time to lose," wrote the CSU leader. This is why Bavaria is also switching from cash benefits to benefits in kind "significantly earlier" than other German states in the four municipalities. "While the card is first being put out to tender elsewhere, we are already starting the practical tests in a month's time." 

This is a "no to the transfer of money abroad". It helps "nobody if asylum seekers send money home from Germany". 

It is also intended to "fight smuggling gangs and the unfortunate deaths in the Mediterranean". Söder formulated the goal of significantly reducing asylum numbers with the payment card.

Guthaben statt Bargeld

Über die deutsche Bezahlkarte

A few days ago, the German federal states agreed on standards for the introduction of a payment card for refugees. The card would allow refugees to receive part of the benefits to which they are entitled in the form of credit instead of cash payments in accordance with uniform standards. 14 of the 16 German federal states are striving for a joint award procedure.

In Austria, too, the ÖVP recently initiated a discussion about a payment card system based on the German model.