The Union’s youth organization criticizes the federal government’s planned pension package as a heavy burden for future generations.
Munich – The Junge Union (JU) is opposing the black-red federal government’s planned pension package with drastic reform demands. In a key motion for Germany Day at the weekend in Rust, the Union’s youth organization is calling for a moratorium on contributions and linking the retirement age to life expectancy.
The federal government is “missing out on urgently needed structural reforms to stabilize contribution rates,” criticizes the JU. Until structural reforms are in place, there should be no further increases in social security contributions. “We are calling for the introduction of a contribution moratorium for this legislative period,” the motion states.
Retirement age should increase with life expectancy
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The pension package of the black-red coalition is “a heavy mortgage from a young perspective,” according to the JU. The organization accuses the government of shifting important decisions to commissions instead of tackling structural reforms.
A central component of the JU reform is linking the retirement age to increasing life expectancy. Today, people work on average for 40 years and then receive a pension for 20 years, argues the JU. But we have to get back to a relationship like it was in the 70s.
Young Union: Conflict with Chancellor Merz is looming
According to the JU, from 2031 the standard retirement age should rise by nine months if life expectancy increases by one year. This would mean that the retirement age would increase by a good six months every ten years. At the same time, there should be hardship regulations for people who cannot work until the statutory retirement age for health reasons.
JU boss Johannes Winkel had previously called on Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) to take action in the dispute over pensions. Winkel is part of the Young Group of the Union faction, which is threatening to block the adoption of the black-red government’s pension package in parliament. Merz wants to speak at the JU’s Germany Day next weekend – things could get uncomfortable for the Chancellor.
Pension package secures 48 percent level until 2031
The federal government’s controversial pension package plans to stabilize the pension level at 48 percent by 2031. Federal Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) is planning stabilization with billions. Without this legal measure, the pension level would be decoupled from wage developments in the years after 2025 and would probably fall by around one percentage point to 47 percent by 2031. Bas recently warned the JU.
The legislature already guarantees a pension level of at least 48 percent by 2025, as confirmed by the German Pension Insurance. The extension of this holding line until 2031 is a central component of the pension package.
Pension: Intergenerational equity in the focus of the JU
The JU justifies its demands with the argument of intergenerational justice. The planned pension policy would lead to higher contributions and taxes, restrict the state’s financial scope for action and endanger the long-term financial viability of the system for future pensioners. The youth organization is calling for a comprehensive reform to limit contribution rates and federal subsidies and to distribute the burden more fairly. (Sources: DPA, Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, German Pension Insurance) (cgsc)
