section_path: Political positions/Social policy
section_name: Social policy
paragraph_text: Social policy
  
  Merz opposed the Bürgergeld (unemployment payment) and, like the CDU, wants to see it abolished and replaced by another system called New Basic Security. The trade union ver.di described CDU plans for basic security as "inhumane and unconstitutional". Merz wants to altogether cancel unemployment payments to those who could work but do not. According to Merz, there are 1.7 million recipients who meet that definition.
  
  Merz has been accused of veering between inclusive rhetoric and dog whistling. On a TV talk show, he said that female teachers in German schools were experiencing a lack of respect from "little pashas ", apparently referring to sons of Muslim parents, and allegedly made " xenophobic " remarks calling rejected asylum seekers "social tourists" who come to Germany to "get their teeth done". Weeks before, Merz had referred to some Ukrainian refugees as "welfare tourists" and said that many had come to Germany seeking safety, only to then travel back and forth between both countries after securing social benefits, remarks that he later said he regretted. Merz had also complained about "problems with foreigners" and insisted on a German Leitkultur (lit. ' lead culture '), a term that many argue calls for compulsory assimilation. In the 1990s, Merz was in the minority even in his conservative CDU when he voted against liberalizing Germany's abortion laws, against preimplantation genetic diagnosis and criminalizing marital rape.