Rentenreform: DIW-Präsident Fratzscher für Abschaffung der „Rente mit 63“

Marcel Fratzscher, President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), supports the planned abolition of the "Rente mit 63" - a pension that is paid at 63 without any deductions. Speaking to the "Rheinischen Post," Fratzscher emphasized that the elimination of the "Rente mit 63" is a crucial and financially significant component of the proposed pension reform.

An abolition is estimated to generate approximately ten billion Euros in long-term savings and create 125,000 additional jobs per pensioner cohort. "Without this element, the pension reform is dead," Fratzscher added. "The federal government would have to start from scratch and, most importantly, completely redesign the financing of statutory pensions."

Fratzscher further warned that without the abolition of "Rente mit 63," the statutory pension would in the future lead to an even greater redistribution from young to old, and from poor to rich. "Many high earners and men benefit considerably from the 'Rente mit 63', while those at risk of age poverty are far less numerous," he stated.

CDU politicians defended the "Rente mit 63" in a letter to the federal government. The three East German CDU ministers of state - Michael Kretschmer (Saxony), Sven Schulze (Saxony-Anhalt), and Mario Voigt (Thuringia) - openly opposed the Rentenkommission's recommendation. In a letter to the federal government, they defended the principle of an early retirement without deductions after 45 years of contributions, known as the "Rente mit 63".

According to the recommendation from the commission, the earlier retirement without deductions after 45 years of contributions, known as "Rente mit 63", would no longer exist.