Taxpayers’ Association calls for fewer Civil Servants in Germany

The German Taxpayers’ Association has called for fewer civil service appointments.“The public budgets are being enormously burdened by these XXL civil service positions,” said association president Reiner Holznagel in an interview with the Rheinische Post on Friday. “For this reason, the civil servant status should be put to the test, and its scope along with its privileges should be critically reviewed.”

‍

‍

The Civil Servants’ Association rejected this demand, and Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) also stated there was no need for reform. Among the privileges of civil servants are generous retirement benefits and exemption from contributions to the pension system. “These advantages can no longer be explained to employees in the private sector, as the financial gap keeps widening,” Holznagel argued.

‍

He specifically demanded that new appointments to civil servant status be kept to a minimum and restricted exclusively to core sovereign functions, in the police, tax administration, and judiciary. The debate about the future sustainability of Germany’s social systems had already seen CDU Secretary General Carsten Linnemann call for fewer civil service appointments, citing the high financial burden of pensions for government employees.

‍

The German Civil Servants’ Association firmly rejected such demands. “Do Linnemann, Holznagel, and others really want to risk strikes at German schools?” asked DBB chairman Volker Geyer in an interview with Funke newspapers. Repeated suggestions to strip teachers of civil servant status would not become less unreasonable simply through constant repetition, he said.

‍

Education, Geyer stressed, is a sovereign responsibility. He further argued that removing civil servant status from certain professions would not save the state money. “Ending civil service status does not solve a single problem in the pension system or public finances,” he warned.

‍

‍

Minister Dobrindt emphasized that the federal government was “very well positioned” with its civil servants in the police and administration. Speaking to Welt TV, he said: “I believe that the civil service is an important component of our country, also of its stability. And therefore, I do not believe such a discussion necessarily has to take place.”

‍