Overview
- Eighteen younger CDU/CSU MPs threaten to withhold support, endangering the coalition’s roughly 12‑vote majority as Friedrich Merz backs the cabinet draft and rules out a minority government.
- The bill fixes the pension level at 48% through 2031 and, by design, leaves it about one percentage point higher thereafter, with estimates citing roughly €115 billion in extra costs by 2040.
- SPD leaders reject any changes to the text and dismiss cost warnings as arbitrary, while the Greens say they will vote no because the package lacks structural reforms for younger generations.
- Merz proposes accelerating a Rentenkommission to report before summer 2026 and suggests an accompanying declaration to commit to post‑2031 reforms, though critics question whether that is sufficient.
- The Left signals possible support if the plan is not weakened, some CDU figures urge a delay, and government leaders insist on passage this year so the package, including the Aktivrente, can clear Bundestag and Bundesrat in December.