Status: 04/19/2022 3:33 p.m
The coalition has promised to permanently secure a pension level of 48 percent. For this, the financing of the pension must also be changed. Labor Minister Heil said the course for this would be set this year.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil intends to set the long-term course for the future of pensions in Germany by the end of the year. “With the pension package II, we will implement two central pension policy projects from the coalition agreement this year,” Heil told the dpa news agency. According to him, these are the promises about the pension level and capital formation in the pension.
“Firstly, we ensure that the pension level remains stable at 48 percent, in the long term. And secondly, we are putting pension financing on a broad basis by building up a capital stock,” said the SPD politician. Heil referred to another pension law that had already been introduced in the Federal Cabinet before Easter. “Both – pension packages I and II – are important foundations for the future of old-age security.”
Minimum pension level of 48 percent “permanently secure”
SPD, Greens and FDP had announced in their coalition agreement that they wanted to “permanently secure” the minimum pension level of 48 percent.
The traffic light partners ruled out pension cuts or an increase in the retirement age. Instead, they promised to save new capital for the pension fund – as a permanent fund, professionally managed and invested globally. A capital stock of ten billion euros from budget funds should be the first step in 2022.
“Getting into a stock annuity so important”
The deputy FDP party leader Johannes Vogel said that the project was still central. “We all have to accept our major challenges and find solutions, including for a generation-fair system of old-age provision.” With a view to demographics, long-term stability in the pension system can only be achieved through structural reforms. “That’s why getting into a stock annuity is so important.”
Mixed reactions
There had been mixed reactions to the coalition plans. The German pension insurance had pointed out the limited scope of the planned capital formation. Its President Gundula Roßbach told the dpa: “It is clear that ten billion euros is a contribution that can only support the financing of the pension insurance in a small way. We have an annual budget of 340 billion euros.”
Employer President Rainer Dulger had warned against implementing the plan for a long-term pension level of 48 percent. Then, according to Dulger’s assessment, higher contributions or more tax subsidies threaten. More than 100 billion euros are already flowing from the federal government into the pension fund.
Pension package II is intended to stabilize pension levels
From Heil’s point of view, the planned law is about permanent security. “The central concept is stability,” he said. The pension level should be kept stable “far beyond 2025”. “We know that this is a big challenge because the baby boomers will be retiring from 2025.”
Heil affirmed that stability also means securing the basis for financing pensions on the labor market. “For this we need a high level of labor force participation and an appropriate wage development.” For the additional capital stock from tax funds that is now being prepared, the minister promised: “We will invest it sensibly.” Overall, the pension package II stabilizes the pension level and strengthens the security of the statutory pension in the long term.