Following Sunday's election results, there are increasing signs that the coalition is weakening its pension plan - with massive consequences for young contributors.
Berlin. The planned abolition of the pension without deductions after 45 years of contributions could soon be off the table. This is indicated by statements from top representatives of the Union and the SPD after the disastrous election results of their parties.
“Retirement at 63” is also likely to be the topic of a routine meeting on Tuesday evening in the Chancellery. Chancellery Minister Nina Warken (CDU) has invited Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD), Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU), Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) and Finance State Secretary Björn Böhning (SPD). A coalition committee is scheduled for October 7th.
The Chancellor had already announced last week after the brilliant AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt that one had to “look at details” in the planned legislative process – “especially when dealing with people who have worked and paid contributions for 45 years”. At the end of August he said clearly that “all incentives for early retirement” had to be ended.
The East German Prime Ministers had previously urged the Union not to abolish the early pension, which is still known as the “pension at 63”. Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer appeared convinced on Deutschlandfunk on Monday: "The pension will remain the same after 45 years of contributions."
Keyword about the pension at 63: It is the colloquial expression for what experts call the “retirement pension without deductions for those who have been insured for a particularly long time”. It is called that because it originally meant that people could retire at the age of 63 after 45 years of contributions to pension insurance - even though the normal retirement age at the time was 65.
However, the Chancellor remained cryptic after the elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin. The lesson from the defeats must be “to make our country fit for the future,” he said. At the same time, he pointed out that retirement at 63 “played practically no role” in the election campaign.
However, that is only partly true: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) in particular has repeatedly campaigned for the preservation of the pension without deductions after 45 years of contributions - supported by her party friend, the Saarland Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger.
So it is not surprising that the SPD party leaders clearly distanced themselves on Monday. If citizens perceive the reforms as something that “threatens their lives,” the “substance of the reforms” must change, demanded Lars Klingbeil in unusually drastic terms. So far he has tried tirelessly to convince his party colleagues of the urgency of social reform.
Co-party leader Bärbel Bas, who as social minister is due to present a bill for pension reform in October, was more reserved. There is “nothing more deadly than letting this coalition break apart over a factual issue.”
But even in the Union parliamentary group - so far a bastion of consistent reform - it is apparently unclear how much they still want to expect of the citizens. In any case, parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei kept all options open on Monday in the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner spezial”: “We have to take a closer look to see whether we need to make improvements in one place or another.”
The economist Martin Werding, who was also a member of the commission, warns against abolishing pensions at 63. This would seriously jeopardize the prospect that pension contributions rose sharply in the short term but then remained stable, he told Handelsblatt.
In 2027/28, the regular pension contribution rate will jump to around 20 percent - “that can no longer be changed,” said Werding. According to the commission's plan, contributions to the statutory capital pension would be added from 2028 to 2031, which should gradually increase to two percent.
The impact of retirement at 63 on the labor market would also be massive. If it were to be extended by just five years until 2031 - as demanded by the SPD - this would result in the loss of around two million skilled workers, as experts have calculated for the Handelsblatt.
A face-saving way to save the “total work of art” would be a transition period of up to five years and additional hardship provisions. Bas had repeatedly promised “protection of trust”. Söder also made it clear on Monday: “The reforms will not fail due to exceptions and transition periods for pensions at 63.”
