Overview
- The Left said it will abstain in Friday’s Bundestag vote, cutting the effective majority threshold to about 284, while the governing coalition controls 328 seats.
- Merz set a target of 316–328 votes and Union leaders are lobbying younger skeptics after a probe vote showed roughly 10–20 dissenters in the CDU/CSU group.
- The bill would secure a 48% statutory pension level through 2031 and keep it higher thereafter than under current law, a cost path younger Union MPs oppose.
- To placate critics, the government plans to establish a pensions commission by cabinet decision this month, with reform proposals due by mid‑2026.
- Separately, federal and state leaders adopted a 200‑plus point modernization agenda but postponed agreement on cost‑sharing for federal laws, and a clash between Merz and Environment Minister Carsten Schneider at the meeting was reported.