2024-03-14 19:51:08
The federal government wants to build up share capital to secure pensions. Lindner and Heil present the plans – and make a promise.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) presented a new pension package in Berlin. “There will be no reduction in pensions and no further increase in the statutory retirement age. And that is right,” said Heil at the press conference.
“The people who pay contributions today must also be able to rely on the statutory pension in the future,” Heil continued. “We are permanently stabilizing pension levels and investing in the social security of tomorrow.” The pension contribution will remain stable over the next few years and will increase at the end of the decade. “That’s because our society is getting older.”
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“In this way, we are making a contribution to relieving the burden on those insured.”
According to the draft law, share capital is to be built up as an additional source of finance to secure the statutory pension. A pension level of 48 percent of the average wage should be guaranteed and the burden on contributors and the federal budget should be relieved. Specifically, a capital stock of at least 200 billion euros is to be built up by the mid-2030s. Here you can read more about it.
According to Lindner at the press conference, this consists of annual loans from the federal budget, initially amounting to twelve billion euros. From the mid-2030s, generation capital should distribute revenues of ten billion euros annually. For this purpose, a foundation will be set up that will independently decide how to invest the money. “In this way, we are making a contribution to relieving the burden on those insured,” said Lindner.
Pension package should be decided before the summer break
According to Heil, the traffic light coalition’s plans set the course well beyond the current legislative period. The aim is to pass the law in parliament before the summer break from July 6th. Finance Minister Lindner pointed out that this could only be a first step. “This should have been done 20 years ago,” he said. And further: “I don’t want to make any secret of it: This is not yet the sole solution for financing pensions. But an important first step has been taken.”
Criticism came from the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich (Ifo Institute). Ifo boss Clemens Fuest criticized in an interview with the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”: “If politicians promise services, it should also be clarified how these services will be financed.” If politicians want to avoid a significant increase in contribution rates or tax subsidies for pension insurance, they must extend the working life, based on the increase in life expectancy, demanded Fuest.
Sahra Wagenknecht had previously criticized the traffic light coalition’s plans. “The stock pension is a casino pension. Because of the lack of planning in pension policy, the traffic lights are playing games with citizens’ old-age security,” she accused the federal government. Wagenknecht said: “The pension does not belong on the trading floor, but on a stable foundation.”
Lindner contradicted this representation at the press conference on Tuesday. Due to the broad diversification and a long investment time horizon, the risks of losing on the capital market are very low. The finance minister added: “The returns are well above what we have to pay in interest on our government bonds. We take advantage of this with generational capital.”