The German government plans to triple the compensation it gives to victims of terror to 30,000 euros (36,400 dollars), a reaction to an outcry after the 2016 terrorist attack on a Berlin Christmas market.
“The attack [on the Christmas market in Berlin] in December 2016 showed that great improvements have to be made,” the government’s commissioner for the victims of terror, Edgar Franke, told the local newspaper Rheinische Post.
He said current levels of compensation – 10,000 euros for the loss of a child, parent or spouse and 5,000 euros for the loss of a sister or brother – were much too low.
“The target is to raise the hardship benefits for the surviving relatives from 10,000 to 30,000 euros and from 5,000 to 15,000 euros,’’ Franke said.
He said tourists from other countries, who are not EU citizens should also be offered the payments in future.
Franke replaced former Rhineland-Palatinate Premier Kurt Beck as commissioner for victims.
Beck was originally appointed to the newly created role in March 2017 after survivors and relatives of the victims of the Christmas market attack accused the government of not doing enough to help them.
In the attack, Islamic State adherent Anis Amri from Tunisia hijacked a lorry, shot dead its Polish driver, and ploughed it into the Christmas market by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, killing 11 people. (dpa/NAN)