Old-age security: pension package is faltering

Berlin. The debate on abolishing the pension without deductions after 45 years of contributions is entering a new round. Florian Dorn (CSU), one of the three members of the German Bundestag in the pension commission, warns the Handelsblatt: If this point is removed from the commission's recommendations, the entire pension package could be destabilized.

Three eastern German prime ministers from the CDU and the party's employee wing had called for the pension to be maintained after 45 years of contributions. This became known as the "pension at 63," but currently only starts at 64.5 years. This is because it always starts two years before the regular retirement age, which is currently being gradually increased to 67 years.

"The privilege of pension without deductions for people with particularly long insurance periods costs the solidarity community, i.e., the contribution and tax payers, several billion euros per year," Dorn said. The abolition of this privilege is "a central building block of the overall reform to stabilize the financing of the statutory pension insurance."

Anyone who wants to retain it would jeopardize the basis for the overall reform and thus the stabilization of the statutory pension.