Overview
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the BDA employers’ event on Tuesday that the pension bill should go to cabinet before year-end and be approved by the Bundestag in the first quarter of 2027.
- Merz said new Labor Minister Alexander Schweitzer must begin work immediately after the next cabinet meeting to finalise drafts and push them into the cabinet quickly.
- Officials report that parts of the reform are already drafted but still need full legal text, negotiation with Bundestag parliamentary groups, and coordination with the federal states before cabinet submission.
- The most contested change is ending the penalty-free early retirement for people with 45 contribution years, a rule often called the informal ‘Rente mit 63’ that would cut a route to retirement without pension reductions.
- If passed as Merz sketches it, the package would aim to lower long-term pension costs and change benefits for long-career workers while triggering fierce bargaining inside the coalition over hardship protections and regional impacts.