The federal government’s pension commission recommends that employees should no longer be allowed to retire without deductions even after 45 years of contributions. Friedrich Merz (CDU) stresses that the reform package should be implemented in full. Within the Union parliamentary group, however, there are differing views.
Criticism comes above all from the eastern German states. The state premiers Michael Kretschmer (Saxony), Sven Schulze (Saxony-Anhalt) and Mario Voigt (Thuringia) spoke out clearly against the abolition in a letter at the end of July. “Anyone who has paid in for 45 years has paid in enough. We will not give up this principle,” the statement says. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s state premier Manuela Schwesig (SPD) also backed the demands and announced that she would not approve the pension package in the Bundesrat.
Supporters of the reform point to the costs. According to calculations by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), the German Pension Insurance would save 9.5 billion euros per pensioner cohort by ending the deduction-free early retirement. Bavaria’s state premier Markus Söder (CSU) defended the commission’s proposals in the ARD summer interview. Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei and CDU General Secretary Franziska Hoppermann also made it clear that their party is sticking to the abolition.
Further deliberations on the reform will take place from September, and draft laws are to be drawn up by the end of 2026. In autumn, state elections are due in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, among others.
Source: www.infranken.de
