According to a survey, a clear majority does not believe that pensions in Germany are secure in the long term. According to a survey by the opinion research institute Insa for “Bild am Sonntag”, 72 percent are of the opinion that the pension is rather uncertain in the long term. 21 percent consider the pension to be secure, seven percent did not comment.
In the survey, 83 percent were in favor of civil servants, freelancers and politicians also paying into the general pension insurance. Only eight percent want a further increase in the retirement age beyond the previously decided increase to 67 years – 53 percent were in favor of a reduction. 75 percent of those surveyed were of the opinion that pensions in Germany were too low. Insa interviewed a total of 1,045 people for the survey on April 4th and 5th.
Employer President Rainer Dulger reiterated his criticism of the federal government’s latest pension package. Dulger told “Bild am Sonntag” that he was “stunned that the Federal Labor Minister now wants to massively increase pension spending again, even though we are facing the biggest aging surge that has ever occurred in Germany.” “Pension Package II should be stopped immediately. It is unfair and unjust to spend 500 billion euros more on pensions over the next 20 years.”
Reform package controversial
The federal government wants to stabilize pension levels and slow down the expected increase in pension contributions. Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) presented a reform package with which the pension level of 48 percent should also be guaranteed for the future. The pension level indicates what percentage of the current average wage someone who has always worked at the average wage for exactly 45 years receives as a pension.
According to the draft law, pension spending would rise from the current 372 billion euros per year to 755 billion euros by 2045 without reform – with the planned fixing of the pension level at 48 percent, they could even rise to around 800 billion. In order to cushion the expected increase in contribution rates somewhat, the financing should be placed on an additional footing. By establishing a capital stock worth billions on the stock market, the traffic light government wants to open up a new source of financing for pension insurance.
The president of the social association VdK, Verena Bentele, believes that financing a pension level of 53 percent is possible, as she told “Bild am Sonntag”. Among other things, it calls for an increase in the contribution assessment limit and the inclusion of civil servants, self-employed people and members of parliament in the statutory pension insurance.
