Overview
- The cabinet plan would fix the statutory pension level at a minimum of 48% through 2031 and anchor a higher baseline thereafter, with an Aktivrente and expanded Mütterrente intended to begin in 2026.
- The Junge Union/Junge Gruppe’s 18 MPs maintain the draft is not acceptable and call for a delay, threatening the coalition’s roughly dozen‑seat majority as reports suggest wider dissent in the Union ranks.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz insists on a Bundestag decision before the holidays and floated addressing concerns with a nonbinding resolution, a step the group’s chair Pascal Reddig rejected.
- Economists weighing in, including advisory council member Veronika Grimm, warn of about €115–120 billion in additional costs by 2040 and advocate spending‑dampening reforms or a higher retirement age.
- The Greens say they will not support the bill in its current form, and Labour Minister Bärbel Bas cautions that failure would further unsettle the already fragile coalition.