Commission Proposes Ending Germany’s 45‑Year No‑Penalty Pension

Overview

• The Alterssicherungskommission recommends abolishing the current abschlagsfreie Altersrente after 45 insured years and replacing it with an early‑access option based on at least 35 contribution years plus an individual medical assessment.
• Under the commission’s plan, qualifying people could take their pension up to two years before their statutory retirement age without deductions if a health check shows serious limitations.
• The commission also advises raising the earliest age for the existing 35‑year route from 63 to 64 and linking future access ages to the rule that adjusts the regular retirement age for life‑expectancy changes.
• Economists on the commission estimate the move would cut pension spending by about €430 million per new retiree cohort and that delaying exits could yield up to roughly €6.5 billion for a single year of later retirements.
• The recommendation is not law; coalition talks are considering alternatives such as raising the years required to 46 or 47 or carving out exemptions, while medical criteria and transition protections for cohorts born from 1964 remain unresolved and create real uncertainty for workers.