Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has called on the Junge Union to not only say no to the pension debate, but also to be constructive. This warning is unfair. Because unlike the Merz government, young people in the CDU/CSU already have very concrete proposals to ensure that statutory pensions are fair to all generations in the face of changing demographics.
Furthermore, they are even ready to support the absurd compromise of a black-red coalition agreement, even though this would cost the payers tens of billions in additional amounts beyond the election period until 2031. Junge Union therefore considers the SPD and the obstacles facing the head of government.
The compromise aims to eliminate demographic factors in the annual pension increase formula until 2031 so that pensions increase more sharply. The acute political conflict essentially revolves around whether the resulting pension package should provide for billions of dollars in additional spending after 2031. The government’s draft provides for this, but the younger generation in the European Union opposes it.
Merz justified this by saying that the government wants to quickly establish a new pension commission and then follow it up with sweeping reforms that would collect these additional costs before they even arise. However, there are no guarantees, or even credible statements, from the SPD that it will support major reforms once the current pension package is approved in the Bundestag.
If the SPD is truly ready, as Merz assumes, to carry out real reforms in the second step, then there is no reason for the SPD to be bothered by the objections raised by the Junge Union. Because then everyone would agree that pension legislation for the period after 2031 should be openly negotiated. The SPD’s anger only confirms that they do not want a second phase of reform. And since Merz has so far given only vague hints about that second stage, young people in the Bundestag still have every reason to want to limit the fallout from pension policy when faced with the current legislative package.
