The AfD's clear victory in Sunday's state election in Saxony-Anhalt, where the party took more than 40 percent of the vote, has put the federal government's reform course at the centre of political debate. In the SPD, the result has prompted calls for the pension plans to be reconsidered.
SPD deputy federal leader Alexander Schweitzer has called on his party to change its pension policy reform course at federal level following the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. Federal political issues were "possibly the decisive factor" in the decision taken by many people in Saxony-Anhalt, he said on Monday on Deutschlandfunk radio. Referring to the pension reform concept drawn up by the CDU/CSU and the SPD, Schweitzer added: "It is perfectly clear that these reforms have to be discussed."
SPD deputy federal leader Alexander Schweitzer has called on his party to change its pension policy reform course at federal level following the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. Federal political matters were "possibly the decisive factor" in the decision taken by many people in Saxony-Anhalt, he said on Monday on Deutschlandfunk radio. Referring to the pension reform concept drawn up by the CDU/CSU and the SPD, Schweitzer added: "It is perfectly clear that these reforms have to be discussed."
Pensions must be "clear and secure", he said, while the proposals currently on the table from a "professorial commission" would mean that people receive less than what they had previously earned. "Such proposals must not receive any support from the SPD," said the former Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate. They would have to continue to be debated in parliament and in public.
The core problem, however, lies less with the SPD than with the CDU, Schweitzer said. In his view, the "real debate" concerns what the CDU has "been up to this summer". Federal Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz had alienated many people in the course of the reform debates with "some clumsy, but not unintentional remarks". Reform policy needs to be rethought, he said.
The CDU's lead candidate for the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in two weeks' time, Daniel Peters, by contrast warned his party against altering the reform course. "If the SPD now wants to shelve reform projects as a consequence of the election in Saxony-Anhalt, it will make the crisis of confidence even bigger," he told "Focus". This threatens the federal government's ability to act and leads to "ruin".
CDU politician Philipp Amthor also defended the federal government's reform course and defended Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) against criticism. Anyone now attempting to "give one-dimensional answers" or to "focus on individual people" is failing to recognise "the shifts we are currently seeing in society", said the Minister of State for Federal-State Relations at the Chancellery on Monday on Deutschlandfunk. The state election result was a "turning point", he said.
"To call the reforms into question now would be the completely wrong response to the election result," Amthor said. The situation had not come about because reforms had been debated in recent weeks and months. The deeper problem was that necessary reforms had been "neglected" over a period of years. As a result, competitiveness had suffered and "social disappointment" and "polarisation" had arisen.
Looking at how a majority might be formed in Saxony-Anhalt after Sunday's vote, Amthor initially saw the AfD as the party in play. It was now "also an hour of truth for the AfD", which had "talked very big", he said.
As a party that had received more than 40 percent of the vote, the AfD now had to reveal "what it intends to do with this country", the CDU politician added. Amthor ruled out any cooperation between the CDU and the AfD. The CDU's aim, he said, was to work towards ensuring that the AfD does not come into a position of political responsibility.
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