Overview
- State CDA leader Kai-Uwe Hemmerich backed postponing the Bundestag vote, calling for a fast-track independent pension commission and floating options such as moving some civil servants into the general system, expanding the Social-Partner model, and a flexible path to retirement after 45 contribution years.
- Eighteen young Union MPs led by Pascal Reddig maintain the draft is not acceptable, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil reject changes, leaving a bill at risk given the coalition’s roughly 12-vote majority.
- At the core of the dispute is a clause that would keep the pension level about one percentage point higher after 2031, a step critics say adds roughly €118 billion, with other estimates citing around €145 billion between 2029 and 2040.
- Economic adviser Martin Werding urged pausing the Mütterrente expansion and the so‑called Haltelinie until the pension commission reports and pressed for a shift toward more capital-funded occupational and private provision, noting about €5 billion a year for the Mütterrente.
- Public debate has sharpened over generational fairness as Hans‑Werner Sinn sided with the youth bloc and argued for longer working lives, while SPD figures defended the draft and characterized the disputed costs as a small share of total pension spending.