Expect a more realistic pension policy from the federal government

Employers' President Dr. Rainer Dulger comments on the German government's new pension package:

Expect a more realistic pension policy from the Federal Government

Berlin, June 26, 2025: "The new pension package will be around twice as expensive over the next 15 years as required to implement the coalition agreement. Contrary to the coalition agreement, pensions will continue to be higher after 2031 than under current law. At the same time, we cannot afford for pension expenditure to increase even more than it already has.

This pension package will make it even more difficult to finance pension insurance and our social system in the long term. If the pension level is fixed until 2031, then there should at least be a gradual return to the pension level under current law for the period after that.

I expect the Federal Government to adopt a more realistic pension policy that focuses on funding and demographics.

The further expansion of the mothers' pension should be stopped, if only because of the high costs. Contrary to claims, the Mothers' Pension III does not close any equity gap. On the contrary, the opposite is the case: mothers whose children were born before 1992 will in future be given preference over all other mothers because, in addition to the full maternal pension, they will also benefit from other pension advantages that have long since been abolished.

It is right that the Mothers' Pension III should be financed from tax revenue. However, tax funding should now also be provided for Mothers' Pensions I and II. All three stages of the mothers' pension are benefits for which contributions have never been paid - and whose financing should therefore not be passed on to the contributors.

The lifting of the ban on employees of retirement age being allowed to work for their former employer for a limited period was long overdue. The abolition of this ban will help to further increase the employment of older workers."