German pension row: CDU's Connemann wants early retirement tied to work years
The head of the CDU's business wing proposes no longer counting child-rearing and care periods toward penalty-free early retirement. The SPD, welfare groups and young conservatives object.
Archive image · Photo: Christliches Medienmagazin pro / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Gitta Connemann, who heads the business wing of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU, has proposed tightening Germany's penalty-free early retirement for people with long insurance records. "Working years instead of contribution years would be a viable way," she told WELT TV. Currently, the required 45 years also include periods of child-rearing, caregiving, military or civilian service and time on benefits such as sick pay. She said the change could only come during parliamentary talks after a cabinet decision.
A government pension commission had proposed scrapping penalty-free retirement after 45 years, and Merz wants its proposals implemented as they stand. SPD Secretary-General Tim Klüssendorf countered: "We want to keep this option of retiring after 45 contribution years without deductions." Labor Minister Alexander Schweitzer of the SPD said he was confident a "good compromise" would be found.
The idea also met resistance within the conservative bloc. Pascal Reddig, head of the parliamentary group's young lawmakers, warned that women in particular would be disadvantaged. Social policy spokesman Marc Biadacz rejected reports that the group wants to count child-rearing and care periods less: "We reject this speculation." Verena Bentele, president of the VdK welfare association, called the proposal a "social policy scandal of the first order."