Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) believes the governing coalition of the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats is on the right track in reaching agreements on reforms. "It is sometimes strenuous and sometimes laborious," Merz said at the Tag der Industrie conference in Berlin on Tuesday. But when it comes to the planned reforms of the healthcare and pension systems, he said: "We are capable of making lasting, sustainable changes to the major systems of our country."
"The working climate is good," the Chancellor continued. "We come from different directions, we have fundamentally different views on certain topics, but we pull together and we show that we can govern the country successfully."
Asked whether he could imagine using his authority to issue binding policy guidelines in order to push through reforms, Merz said: "I have to lead the government. And I do. And I do so, for now and until further notice, with the power of argument, with the power of my words, and with a good atmosphere in the discussions we are having."
Merz pointed to the proposals for pension reform that a commission had previously presented. The body, which includes three members of the Bundestag from both the CDU/CSU and the SPD, had been meeting since January, yet, he noted, not a single word had leaked to the outside by the preceding Saturday.
"And that is something of value in itself, to talk, discuss, and reach conclusions behind closed doors in peace," Merz said. "And that is sometimes more important than making a public show of banging your fist on the table."
The Chancellor confirmed his intention to translate the proposals "fully into legislative language now." He described what he called perhaps the "most important message of this reform": the introduction of an "additional capital-backed, individualised, statutory capital pension."
Young people in particular, Merz said, could thereby "once again trust that they themselves will receive reliable old-age provision." The use of capital markets within the statutory pension insurance system was, in his view, "perhaps the decisive course-setting for the future viability and stability of our pension system." Merz also emphasised that the implementation of the proposal would involve minimal bureaucratic effort.
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