Social policy decisions made at the CDU party convention over the weekend are meeting resistance within the SPD. SPD parliamentary manager Dirk Wiese pointed in Monday’s edition of the newspaper Bild to CDU demands on health and labor policy. The SPD politician also sees no current need for further changes to military service.
“The option of calling in sick by phone is absolutely sensible. It eases the burden on medical practices and prevents further infections in waiting rooms,” Wiese said, rejecting the proposal to abolish it. What is necessary, he said, is to act “as agreed in the coalition agreement” against “abusive online sick notes.” “That should be our focus as a coalition now, instead of questioning sensible rules and putting patients under general suspicion,” the SPD politician demanded.
Regarding the debate on reforming the legal entitlement to part-time work, Wiese said: “People have many reasons for working part time. They care for children or elderly relatives, volunteer, or need to cut back for health reasons.” It was not the role of politics “to disparage people’s life choices,” he said. Freedom of choice must remain, and a “full-time compulsion à la CDU” is not an option for the SPD.
Wiese also sees no need to act on military service. “We recently passed a new military service law that restructures our military service in light of new defense policy challenges. We should now allow these new rules to take effect,” he said. They strengthen the Bundeswehr and create the right incentives to meet personnel targets.
At its party convention, the CDU adopted the demand to end sick notes issued by phone. The existing right to part-time work is also set to be reviewed, although the relevant motion was somewhat softened. For the Bundeswehr, the CDU wants to introduce mandatory military service from July 2027 if not enough volunteers come forward by the end of 2026.
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