Overview
- Thirty-two employer and business associations sent a joint letter to CDU/CSU and SPD leaders urging the Bundestag to stop the bill, warning of nearly €480 billion in additional costs by 2050 and citing representation of about 17 million employees.
- The signatories, including BGA, Gesamtmetall, ZDB, HDE, VDMA, Die Familienunternehmer, the Taxpayers’ Association and BVMW, also call for abolishing retirement at 63, a slight rise in the retirement age and higher deductions for early retirees, and they ask MPs to wait for a planned reform commission.
- SPD general secretary Tim Klüssendorf said the package will not be reopened, noting unanimous cabinet approval and signaling confidence that elements such as an Aktivrente, a safeguard for the pension level and an expanded mothers’ pension will be passed.
- The coalition plan seeks to secure a 48% pension level through 2031 and would lift the contribution rate from 18.6% to 18.8% in 2027, while a key design feature suspends the demographic factor to accelerate pension increases.
- Younger members of the Union caucus, a group of 18 MPs, have threatened to block the bill, a significant risk given the SPD–Union tally of 328 seats is only 12 above an absolute majority and government estimates put added costs at more than €200 billion by 2040 from the federal budget.