Overview

• Parliament is reviewing a pension stabilization law that secures a 48 percent replacement rate until 2031 and boosts parental credits for mothers.
• Economic adviser Veronika Grimm warned that current pension, nursing and health benefits are financially unsustainable and said targeted cuts will be necessary to shore up the system.
• SPD parliamentary manager Dirk Wiese labelled Grimm’s approach overly reductionist and Greens deputy Andreas Audretsch cautioned that further pension cuts could drive vulnerable women into old-age poverty.
• The Bundesverband der Rentenberater lodged complaints over the Deutsche Rentenversicherung’s retroactive 1.2 percent care insurance surcharge applied to new retirees who had not yet begun receiving pensions.
• A federal–state working group under Health Minister Nina Warken is drafting nursing insurance reforms to address mounting deficits while a government commission set for 2026 will propose wider structural changes.