In its opposition to the pension plans of the SPD-led Federal Ministry of Labor, the Young Group of the CDU and CSU sees a large part of the Union faction behind it. “It can no longer be said that the Young Group is against it, but rather a large part of the parliamentary group,” said Johannes Winkel, chairman of the Young Group (JU), on Tuesday in an interview with Deutschlandfunk.
In recent discussions, he said, he had received strong backing from CDU and CSU lawmakers for the critical stance on the pension plans. The young CDU/CSU members are determined to push for changes, even though the black-red cabinet has already approved the draft, Winkel said. “The cabinet may have decided this, but at the end of the day, it’s Parliament that makes the laws,” he said, adding that “the Bundestag is the right place to debate this.”
Winkel defended the group’s opposition to the plans, saying, “This is not a rebellion, but a commitment to the coalition agreement, which, incidentally, wasn’t particularly favorable for the younger generation.” The problem, he said, is that the draft law from Minister Bärbel Bas’s office “goes well beyond what was agreed in the coalition deal.”
The 18 Bundestag members of the Union’s “Young Union Group” are threatening to block the bill’s passage. They argue that the pension stabilization proposal from the Labor Ministry extends beyond the coalition’s agreement beyond 2031, with potential follow-up costs of around €115 billion by 2040.