Facing the financial strain on Germany’s social systems, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has warned citizens for higher future costs. “Our population will have to spend more of their disposable income on pensions, retirement provisions, health, and care in the future,” Merz said on Sunday evening during the ARD program Caren Miosga.
However, he stressed that this must be done fairly. “People must feel that everyone is contributing,” he said. Merz added that the upcoming reforms “do not necessarily have to be linked to higher contributions.” One option, he suggested, could be “to require people to do more for their private retirement provisions than they do today.” He continued, “Personally, I am in favor of a mandatory contribution to a privately funded pension scheme.”
The chancellor rejected any increase in the retirement age beyond 67. Instead, he said efforts should focus on extending the total working time across citizens’ lifetimes. Merz also opposed eliminating a public holiday.
Merz stated that the CDU/CSU and SPD were “very close” to reaching an agreement on the planned citizen’s benefit (bürgergeld) reform. Only “two or three points” still needed to be resolved, he said. The social benefit will definitely receive a new name: “The term citizen’s benefit (bürgergeld) will no longer exist,” Merz confirmed. The new law will be called the Basic Security Act (Grundsicherungsgesetz).
According to the chancellor, the reform will address issues such as protected assets (Schonvermögen) and how to deal with recipients of citizen’s benefits who refuse to cooperate with job centers. On that, Merz shared his personal stance: “If you don’t comply, then we assume you don’t need our help.”
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