City council continues to fight for basic economic aid
Zurich
City council continues to fight for basic economic aid – nun takes over Reformed church
The Zurich city council will not give up the basic economic aid project and is referring the negative decision of the district council to the government council. The evangelically reformed parish of Zurich – the project continues in the meantime.
The city council is still of the opinion that the project does not violate any overriding law, as it announced on Monday. He takes the decision of the district council, therefore to the next higher instance, the government council.
As it became known on December 10th, the district council decided that the basic economic aid violates federal foreigner law provisions. The city council’s decision to finance the pilot project was thereby repealed.
The district council withdrew the suspensive effect from any complaint. The city had to stop the payments immediately.
Reformed Church will initially cover the costs
While the legal dispute continues, it should now be from the Protestant Reformed parish of Zurich. The church administration also made a contribution of 100,000 francs for this purpose, the parish announced on Monday. The money is to be paid back if the city wins the lawsuit and is allowed to continue the project.
It is part of the core mission of the church to be there for those in need, church maintenance president Annelies Hegnauer IS quoted as saying. Especially at Christmas time and in the middle of the corona pandemic, you have to prevent support for the weakest from falling away.
According to the city council, 115 people – 68 adults and 47 children – have been supported since the start of the project. A total of 123,912 francs was paid out. While non-residents in particular used the offer, most recently it was mostly people who have a B or C residence permit.
However, the city does not pay out the funds directly. Various participating aid organizations are responsible for this.
Receipt of social assistance can lead to a transfer
The core of the dispute are legal provisions according to which the receipt of regular social assistance for foreigners can lead to the loss of the residence permit in Switzerland. Opponents of the project accuse the city council of intentionally circumventing these provisions, which is illegal.
The city council, on the other hand, considers such an offer to be indispensable in order to prevent extreme forms of poverty. Especially during the corona pandemic, numerous people who had previously lived in an economically precarious situation slipped into poverty. (sda)