Berlin – The emergence of a crisis by the Chancellor is scheduled at short notice! On Sunday at 6 pm, Friedrich Merz gave an impromptu interview in “Report from Berlin” (ARD) about the government’s main problem – the pension problem in his party!
The cause is a dispute over a pension package that has been approved by the federal government and will now be brought before parliament. There was strong resistance from the Union faction, but the SPD clearly did not want to renegotiate.
And Merz made it clear: He still supports the pension package and does NOT want to give it up – as his own faction has demanded. The bill is in accordance with the coalition agreement, said the Chancellor.
The dispute finally escalated on Saturday when Merz appeared on the Junge Union (JU) “German Day”. The chancellor stressed that he wanted to push the legislation through the Bundestag and showed no willingness to compromise. Solidarity with the SPD against parts of their own faction!
Now his retirement package is stuck! And with it the entire government!
MPs from the “Young Group” under the leadership of Pascal Reddig (30) and Junge Union boss Johannes Winkel (34) rejected the law on pension levels because they feared additional costs of 115 billion euros. They received support from other parts of the Union faction. CDU social wing leader Dennis Radtke (46) implemented a postponement of the pension package.
Now the Chancellor is under pressure. If he announces renegotiations with the SPD, he will abandon his coalition partners and trigger a coalition crisis. If he sticks to his guns, he will face a major challenge in convincing the staunch pensioner rebels or getting them to fall in line with huge pressure. If he is unsuccessful, the coalition will lose its majority on the pension package and a major scandal will occur.
