(de-news.net) – Markus Söder, minister-president of Bavaria and leader of the CSU, has called on the Social Democratic Party to orient itself more strongly toward earlier reform paths, arguing that the SPD had already made a substantial contribution to Germany’s economic and social development through the Agenda 2010 reforms associated with former chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Speaking on the margins of the CSU retreat at Seeon Abbey, Söder maintained that while many traditional concepts in social policy continued to shape political thinking, they were no longer fully adequate under current conditions and therefore required fundamental reassessment. In his view, demographic change, particularly the steady aging of the population, made a renewed and comprehensive restructuring of the welfare state unavoidable if long-term financial sustainability was to be preserved and if medical and technological advances were to remain broadly available across society.
According to Söder, any such restructuring would necessarily involve longer working lives. He stressed that this issue could not be reduced to a technical debate about raising the statutory retirement age alone, but also included moderate extensions of working time in everyday employment. These incremental adjustments, he argued, were both reasonable and unavoidable given demographic and fiscal realities. Drawing on international comparisons, Söder cited countries such as Switzerland to suggest that modest increases—such as an additional hour of work per week—had proven socially manageable and economically viable, reinforcing his claim that similar measures could be accepted in Germany.
On immigration policy, Söder differentiated clearly between those who were integrated into the labor market and contributing economically and those who were not. While acknowledging the value of working migrants, he argued that returns could be justified on pragmatic grounds where individuals were unwilling or unable to participate in employment, emphasizing the fiscal costs involved rather than ideological considerations. In addressing the SPD, Söder claimed that this perspective was widely shared among traditional workers, noting that many such voters in Bavaria had shifted their support to the CSU and, in other regions, to the AfD. He suggested that a strategic reorientation toward workers’ concerns would therefore align with the SPD’s own electoral interests.
At the conclusion of the CSU parliamentary group’s retreat, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) underscored the urgency of far-reaching economic reforms. He warned that the continued weakness of Germany’s economy placed considerable strain on the country and required the dismantling of entrenched structures that hinder competitiveness. Persistent disadvantages, he argued, included high energy prices, elevated labor costs, and excessive bureaucratic burdens, alongside an overall tax load that needed to be reduced. Merz indicated that these issues would form a central focus of upcoming discussions with coalition partner SPD, signaling that economic reform would remain a defining issue within the governing alliance.
