2024-03-14 05:23:21
The traffic light government wants to make pensions secure. Shares will soon also contribute to this for the first time. That’s not enough for the opposition.
No pension cuts, no higher entry age – but increasing contributions and generational capital: the federal government has presented its plans for pensions. The pension level should not fall below 48 percent of the average wage. However, the contribution rate will increase more than previously expected – from the current 18.6 percent to 22.3 percent in 2035.
To ensure that the costs of pensions do not rise further as society ages, a share pension is intended to relieve the burden on pension insurance from the mid-2030s. The government wants to use new debt to create generational capital that will have a capital stock of 200 billion euros by 2035. The money is to be invested in stocks and funds and, according to the plans, will generate ten billion euros annually from 2036.
Union: “Absolutely no solution”
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt clearly criticized the federal government’s plans. “This pension package II is absolutely not a solution to the challenge of demographic change in pension insurance,” he told t-online. “The proposal creates new additional burdens for employees and employers and does not provide a fair distribution of the burden across generations.”
Instead of the “minimal entry” into capital coverage, which is only intended to dampen the increase in contributions to the pension fund, what is needed is a “real generational pension with own acquired individual entitlements that are met from capital coverage.”
Left: “Higher pensions for everyone”
Sören Pellmann, chairman of the Die Linke group in the Bundestag, sharply criticizes the federal government’s pension plans: “The traffic light plans will have no effect on pension stabilization, even supporters of a stock pension say that,” Pellmann told t-online. “Instead of stock games, we need pension financing based on solidarity and higher pensions for everyone.” Pellmann demands that all employed people pay into pension insurance – “including civil servants, the self-employed and, above all, members of the Bundestag.”
The fact that the pension level should be stabilized at 48 percent is not enough for Pellmann. “The federal government is leaving pensions just as bad as they are.” The Left is calling for an increase to 53 percent. “That’s where the pension level was before the welfare state was dismantled through Agenda 2010 and that’s where it has to go again!”
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SPD: “That won’t happen with us”
The deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Dagmar Schmidt, told t-online: “Everyone who has worked hard for a long time must be able to live well in old age. With pension package II, we are implementing our promise and stabilizing the pension level at at least 48 Percent.”
Schmidt rejected calls for an increase in the retirement age: “That won’t happen with us.” For many millions of pensioners “who simply cannot work until they are 70 or longer,” a higher retirement age means a reduction in pensions. Instead, the traffic light is investing in rehabilitation and prevention measures so that “as many people as possible can do their jobs in a healthy manner until they retire.”
Greens: “Important step towards stabilization”
The leader of the Green Party, Britta Haßelmann, also welcomed the plans. “With the pension package we are taking an important step towards stabilizing pension levels, which is an important signal to citizens,” she told t-online.
“One thing is clear: Falling pensions would mean the risk of poverty in old age or the receipt of basic pensions for more people,” emphasized Haßelmann. “That’s why it’s good that the federal government is securing the pension level at 48 percent.” The Greens would now “constructively accompany” the parliamentary process that is beginning.
FDP: “Generational capital is the first step”
FDP parliamentary group vice-president Christoph Meyer praised the “generational capital” in the pension package as the “first step towards a generation-appropriate pension”. In general, the burden of demographic change on the social systems would have to be cushioned and the social security systems would have to be set up more efficiently.
The “secure return potential of the capital markets” will make pensions “fit for the future” and protect young people from permanently rising pension contributions, said Meyer. “Anyone who speaks of speculation here not only reveals their ignorance, but also wants to place the burden of demographics on the shoulders of young people.”
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr emphasized: “With the now agreed entry into capital funding, we are launching a reform that the previous governments never had the strength for.”