In his speech at a meeting of CDU/CSU youth organizations, Chancellor Merz defended the coalition’s pension plans. The Junge Union criticized this as being too expensive.
November 15, 2025 | 0:24 min
“We will warmly welcome the Chancellor. How we say goodbye to him is up to him.” These two short sentences from the state chairman of the Junge Union on the sidelines of Germany Day very accurately describe the atmosphere of Friedrich Merz’s meeting at the Junge Union. The previously widespread hope was that he would build bridges. And not only within the Junge Union, but also from the leadership of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
Merz disappointed all those expectations. There wasn’t much applause when he left.
But from the start: The CDU chairman and chancellor’s welcome was more than friendly. Merz entered the hall at Europapark Rust in Baden-Württemberg to the booming bass of “High Hopes”, a song that at the beginning says that one should and can have the highest life expectancy. But then he took almost half an hour before discussing the topic currently plaguing the Junge Union: the coalition’s retirement plan.
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Merz: Don’t just say what doesn’t work
According to Young MPs’ calculations, this pension package will incur additional costs of around 120 billion euros after 2031, which will then have to be borne by the younger generation. This cannot be expected from future taxpayers. That’s why 18 members of the Youth Group in the Union parliamentary group threatened to vote no in the Bundestag. With a coalition majority of only twelve votes, the package will probably fail.
Merz disputes the figure. This is a ghost discussion, he suggests. These costs will never arise because an agreement has been reached with the SPD to restructure the pension system in such a way that a completely new foundation will be created for the period after 2031.
What exactly he meant and with what majority he intended to make this happen remains unanswered at this time. This is a bet on the future that Merz offers to his youth organization. He said in his speech:
I would like to ask you to take part in this debate constructively and actively. But not by simply saying what doesn’t work.
Friedrich Merz (CDU), Federal Chancellor
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The Chancellor showed disappointment on his face
In the subsequent discussion, Merz then expressed all of Junge Union’s disappointments directly. Every question he was asked about the retirement complex was accompanied by frenetic cheering.
Kevin Gniosdorz, the state chairman of North Rhine-Westphalia, reminded the Chancellor that they would play “in teams”. Just as JU “stood on the side of the Merz,” he must “now stand on the side of the Junge Union.” Another delegation quoted Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, who at the same time stressed at the SPD party’s state conference in Ulm that nothing would change in the pension package and asked Merz to explain to his Vice-Chancellor “the authority of the Chancellor’s directive.”
The Junge Union leadership then tried to smooth things over a bit and avoid a difficult split. Johannes Winkel, Chairman of JU, emphasized that Merz admitted that 120 billion euros of funds were unaffordable. “It’s nice when you agree with the content,” Winkel said.
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27 Oct 2025 | 3:20 min
There are no changes to the retirement package
But that doesn’t change the hardened front. “The position of the youth group has not changed,” the JU chief said in a ZDF interview. This may mean that resistance to this retirement package remains. The pension package conflict introduced by SPD Minister of Social Affairs Bärbel Bas and initially a conflict between young CDU/CSU MPs and the Social Democrats, has now become an open dispute with the Chancellor.
Boys also feel supported by other social groups in the Union Faction. At the Youth Group’s final meeting of the week in Berlin, around 30 other Union MPs showed solidarity. This will make it almost impossible to achieve the majority of retirement funds.
Mathis Feldhoff is a correspondent at ZDF’s Berlin capital studio.
