Overview
- Merz, who addressed the CDU worker wing in Marburg on Saturday, ruled out cuts to statutory pensions and urged a bigger role for private and workplace plans tied to capital markets.
- His clarification followed his earlier remark that the state pension would be only a basic layer, a line that drew fierce pushback from the SPD and warnings from union leaders about stoking public fear.
- CDA chief Dennis Radtke pressed for calmer messaging in the same forum and said talk that alarms people about their retirement should stop.
- Lawmakers on Friday examined a leaked 108‑page Bund–Länder paper that lists about 70 ways to narrow child, youth and disability support, including cutting advance child support for single parents to age 12 and curbing individual school assistance, with at least €8.6 billion in annual savings tallied.
- Opponents called the leak a threat to social rights and noted the federal government has not addressed the document, as a wider reform calendar moves on with a health insurance bill headed to cabinet next week, a long‑term care draft due by mid‑May, and a pension commission report expected by end‑June.