2024-09-09 18:56:34
The FDP continues to criticize the planned pension reform. A liberal politician criticizes the SPD particularly harshly. An economist also criticizes the pension plan.
FDP politicians still need to discuss pension reform, although Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is insisting on a speedy adoption in the Bundestag. FDP social expert Pascal Kober told “Bild am Sonntag”: “We still have many questions. Here, thoroughness takes precedence over speed.”
FDP finance expert Max Mordhorst told the paper: “The SPD is lying to pensioners and workers: The greatest danger to the pension system is to leave it as it is. The pension package would continue down this path. That is why we will have to fundamentally change it or reject it.”
The Liberals believe that the future contribution burdens for today’s younger generations are too high. Kober told the “Tagesspiegel”: “It cannot be that the burden is shifted unilaterally onto the younger generations.” In the coalition agreement, the traffic light coalition agreed on generational equity in pensions. “That is the benchmark for us. That is why we will take another close look at the calculations of the pension level by Labor Minister Hubertus Heil,” said the FDP politician, referring to SPD department head Heil.
Scholz told the “Tagesspiegel” newspaper about the pension reform: “It has to happen. Everyone knows that.” He continued: “There is a firm agreement that the second pension package will be discussed quickly in parliament and passed before the 2025 budget in November.” Guaranteeing stable pensions is one of the central projects on which the traffic light coalition is based.
In the interview, Scholz also rejected the objection that the second pension package would primarily burden younger generations. This was “the opinion of an exclusively establishment-oriented expert community that has its ducks in a row,” said Scholz. Economist Stefan Kooths from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy then sharply criticized the Chancellor for his choice of words – and the planned pension reform.
With the second pension package, which was approved by the cabinet in May, the government wants to fix the pension level at 48 percent, among other things. It also wants to permanently suspend the so-called sustainability factor with the reform – and establish generational capital. Kooths criticized: “The second pension package only manages the shortage and shifts the burden unilaterally onto the actively insured.” The generational capital, which was originally planned as a share pension, does not change this.