(de-news.net) – Germany’s proposed pension reform has triggered a widening political dispute over plans to abolish retirement without deductions after 45 years of contributions. While economic experts and senior CDU/CSU figures argue the measure is essential to ensuring the reform’s financial sustainability, growing resistance from SPD leaders and several state premiers threatens to complicate parliamentary approval.
The government’s proposed pension reform would not be viable without abolishing retirement without deductions after 45 years of contributions, according to DIW President Marcel Fratzscher, who described the measure as indispensable to the broader overhaul. He argued that preserving the provision would effectively derail the reform package and force policymakers to redesign the financing of Germany’s statutory pension system from the ground up. Fratzscher identified the planned abolition of the so-called “retirement at 63” as both the central structural element and the reform’s most consequential fiscal measure, estimating long-term savings of nearly 10 billion euros for each annual retirement cohort while increasing the labor force by approximately 125,000 workers.
Supporters within the CDU/CSU portrayed the reform package as a necessary step toward restoring confidence in Germany’s economic and social policy framework. CDU lawmaker Tilman Kuban argued that implementing the agreed measures would strengthen the party’s credibility and help rebuild public trust. CDU parliamentary leader Thorsten Frei, Secretary-General Franziska Hoppermann, and the Young Union likewise defended the recommendations of the independent Pension Commission. Young Union Chairman Johannes Winkel urged party colleagues to act responsibly and avoid jeopardizing a carefully negotiated compromise for short-term political positioning, emphasizing the importance of preserving the broader agreement.
Resistance to the proposals nevertheless emerged from several state leaders. The CDU minister-presidents of Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt publicly opposed ending retirement without deductions after 45 years of contributions and were joined by the SPD premiers of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. Saxony’s Michael Kretschmer indicated that he could vote against the legislation in the Bundesrat, arguing that the provision remained particularly significant in eastern Germany because occupational pensions were less widespread and many workers had been unable to build substantial private retirement savings. Supporters of the exemption maintained that the statutory pension therefore remained the principal source of retirement income for many eastern Germans.
Söder warns against selective changes as Bas presses CDU/CSU
CSU leader Markus Söder warned against reopening the pension package after the governing Union parties and the SPD had committed to implementing the Pension Commission’s recommendations in full. He described the intervention by the eastern CDU state leaders as unexpected and cautioned that revisiting individual elements could jeopardize a long-term settlement designed to provide stability across generations. Florian Dorn, a CSU lawmaker who served on the Pension Commission, advanced a similar argument, maintaining that preserving retirement without deductions after 45 years of contributions would weaken the financial foundation of the overall reform, increase costs for contributors and taxpayers, and undermine intergenerational fairness. Dorn stressed that the commission had not proposed eliminating early retirement altogether but instead recommended a more targeted approach under which special protection would primarily be reserved for workers unable to continue in their occupations because of health-related limitations. The proposal would also continue to permit retirement from age 64 with actuarial reductions, allowing individuals to decide whether their accumulated pension entitlements justified an earlier exit from the workforce.
CDU lawmaker Reddig, deputy chair of the government-appointed Pension Commission, also defended abolishing the provision. He argued that the commission’s recommendations formed an integrated package and cautioned against selectively adopting individual proposals while rejecting others. According to Reddig, the fiscal flexibility created by ending the deduction-free retirement option would make it possible to strengthen other elements of the reform, including expanding funded pension arrangements, while contributing to higher long-term pension levels, particularly in eastern Germany.
SPD leader Bärbel Bas called on the CDU and CSU to resolve their internal differences over the reform while reaffirming that the commission’s proposals had originally been conceived as a coherent overall package. Although she acknowledged that discussion of individual measures remained possible, she argued that the broader compromise should largely remain intact. The deduction-free retirement option after 45 years of contributions was introduced in 2014 under Germany’s grand coalition, with then-Labor Minister Andrea Nahles leading the initiative.
Opposition among SPD-led state governments also intensified. Saarland Minister-President Anke Rehlinger rejected abolishing the provision, bringing the number of state premiers publicly opposing that element of the reform to six. She argued that eliminating the benefit failed to recognize long working careers and maintained that individuals who had planned their retirement under the existing rules should not face retrospective changes. Because the legislation requires approval from both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, coordinated resistance from multiple state governments could complicate the government’s efforts to secure final passage.
Additional criticism came from Berlin SPD parliamentary leader Raed Saleh, who argued that employees who entered physically demanding occupations at a young age should not be treated in the same manner as people who began their professional careers much later. The Social Association of Germany (SoVD) likewise called for retaining the provision, contending that claims it primarily benefited higher-income men overlooked the employment histories of many workers, particularly in eastern Germany, who had entered the labor force early and contributed to the statutory pension system for decades. The organization maintained that completing 45 years of contributions should continue to qualify workers for retirement without deductions. Under the current system, however, deduction-free retirement is available no earlier than at the age of 64.5.
