Berlin (dpa) – Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s allies in the conservative
German state of Bavaria are considering defying a ruling by the
nation‘s top court and continuing to pay a controversial welfare
benefit for stay-at-home parents.

The constitutional court‘s decision on Tuesday declaring the
so-called kitchen premium illegal dealt a blow to the Christian
Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian-based allies of Merkel‘s Christian
Democrats (CDU).

But Bavarian state premier and CSU leader Horst Seehofer said on
Tuesday his government planned to try to continue paying the care
allowance of 150 euros (163 dollars) a month.

“It would be a great loss if we give up this key aspect of Bavarian
family policy and not continue to pay the care allowance, ” said
Seehofer.

He was speaking after the Karlsruhe-court accepted a challenge to the
allowance from the Social Democratic Party-led (SDP) government in
the northern city state of Hamburg, which had argued that the benefit
accentuated inequality in German society.

Seehofer‘s move is also likely to trigger tensions in Merkel‘s
government over the benefit, whose introduction shortly before the
2013 election, was roundly criticized by the then opposition, the
left-leaning SPD.

The court‘s ruling means that Merkel‘s government will now have to
withdraw the benefit, which is currently paid out to 450,000 families
and is estimated to cost the government 900 million euros this year.

However, Seehofer, indicated that the CSU now plans to consider other
steps to ensure the payments continue.

“Now the federal government has a duty to provide the means to ensure
the care benefit is fully available to the states,” said Seehofer.

Parents who prefer to bring up their children aged one and three at
home can apply for the so-called Betreuungsgeld, which the CSU
championed under Merkel‘s previous coalition with the Free Democrats
(FDP).

However, the SPD has since replaced the FDP as the junior member of
the chancellor‘s coalition.

The SPD joined the opposition Green Party as well as leading business
groups in criticizing the allowance, saying it would be far better to
use the funds to help meet the growing demand for places at child
day-care centres.

Critics also argued that the benefit placed children from low-income
families or from migrant backgrounds at a disadvantage because being
kept at home meant they were unable to benefit from the early
educational aspects of child-care facilities.

Welcoming the court‘s decision, Hamburg‘s senator for social affairs,
Detlef Scheele called on Merkel‘s government to now release money to
help with improvement in pre-schools.