Bavaria’s State Premier and leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) Markus Soeder, German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP
Younger CDU/CSU MPs are rejecting the SPD’s 48% pension level, the SPD won’t renegotiate, and the coalition is now paralysed.
By failing to resolve Germany’s migration crisis, the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition has already proved that it is incapable of governing properly. But the latest crisis in Berlin should make that impossible to ignore.
The government is currently locked in a standoff with itself over its pensions package, which was supposed to pass through the Bundestag before the end of this year and come into force at the beginning of 2026.
Right now, the law hangs in the balance. Bildsays it is not just the timetable that is in “jeopardy,” but “also the package itself,” while according to Junge Freiheit, the dispute could even force Chancellor Friedrich Merz into “retirement.”
Merz is taking fire from his party’s younger MPs over the SPD’s plan to freeze the pension level at 48% until 2031—a move projected to cost over €100 billion.
It doesn’t help that Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil (SPD) has rejected further negotiations on the package, prompting CDU politician Armin Laschet to accuse him of an “arrogance” typical of someone with “a lack of government experience.”
Egal wie man zur Rentenfrage steht: Diese Arroganz eines Regierungsmitglied gegenüber den Abgeordneten speist sich aus mangelnder Regierungserfahrung. Wenn schon Verfassungskenntnisse über parlamentarische Prozesse fehlen, hilft vielleicht die Lektüre des „Vorwärts“.… https://t.co/ZdPHjGq8ro
Merz said over the weekend that he will vote in favour of the pension reform package in its current form. He also predictably attempted to shift the attention to the right-wing AfD, saying there will be no cooperation with the anti-immigration party even on this issue, “not because there is a firewall—forget that word! We are worlds apart from this party. We have nothing in common with them.”
When your own party is ‘performing’ so badly, that’s really not something to be shouting about.
The AfD, for its part, has noted that while the establishment parties remain happy spending billions on migration and “prestige projects,” they will inevitably leave pensioners—and small business owners, among others—behind.
🇩🇪💙💥CHRUPALLAS REDE IN DER GENERALDEBATTE💥💙🇩🇪
Tino_Chrupalla rechnet im Bundestag ab:
Über 630 Mrd. Euro Ausgaben, ein Drittel auf Pump! Die Ampel verschleudert Milliarden für Migration & Prestigeprojekte – Renten, Mittelstand & Infrastruktur bleiben auf der Strecke. Wir… pic.twitter.com/8eO8fJxXgi
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
