Dignity becomes a constitutional right

Heralding the end of one of the most far reaching and controversial social reforms in the history of the German state, on 9 February, Germany's Constitutional Court invalidated the infamous Hartz IV law on welfare and unemployment benefits. In the light of the judges' decision, the reform introduced by the Schröder government in 2005, which has been regularly criticized as a key factor in the emergence of unprecedented levels of poverty, will now have to be revised. The government will have to re-calculate benefits paid to the unemployed and Germany's poorest citizens so as to take into account their fundamental right to a "life in dignity." Announcing a "Historic judgement" which will provide "a new basis for the German welfare state," Süddeutsche Zeitung compares the decision to the 1950s ruling which guaranteed equality between men and women. "What a pity we had to wait five years" for the courts to condemn "such a botched reform," concludes the Munich daily.