Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has defended a draft law on a 48 percent pension ownership limit by 2031. However, it promised the Junge Union, which criticized the reform plan, an accompanying text with a commitment to fundamental pension reform. “We will form a pension commission this year,” said the Chancellor in an ARD broadcast Report from Berlin. The commission will be managed in such a way that “those who now view things critically are also included.” He must finish his work before the 2026 summer break and begin the legislative process immediately after.
Merz also suggested “companion text” to the bill, which should state that the government has a fundamental basis Pension reform from 2032. He wants to talk to the SPD about this. “I support us making fundamental changes to our pension system after 2031,” said the Chancellor. The coalition can also stipulate this in its legal justification.
Merz wants step-by-step pension reform
Merz also said in the interview that he had also spoken to the SPD about how the entire package of pension legislation could be included in a “common sense message”. “We have to convince the public on this issue and we have to get the people of this country towards a new supply system.” This consists of three elements: legal elements pensioncompany pensions and private pension provision. In the future, these elements should be given a different weight than they are today. He spoke with Labor Minister and SPD co-leader Bärbel Bas on Saturday after his appearance at Junge Union – “and we also agreed that we would talk about this again.”
However, Merz rejected the Union’s young MPs’ request to change the line on stopping the draft again, as well as the calculation that the draft would incur follow-up costs of 120 billion euros from 2032. Regardless, SPD agreed that new key figures for the pension system would be determined for the period after 2032 to prevent such additional costs, he said. One possibility is to link the development of pension funds not to wages, but to the rate of inflation. Merz pointed out that the law on holding lines is just one element of a comprehensive pension package with active pension, early retirement and maternal pension.
