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BDA President Dulger: “most expensive social law of the century”

Photo: Bernd Elmenthaler / IMAGO

Employer President Rainer Dulger vehemently warns against the federal government's planned pension package II. Dulger told "Bild am Sonntag" that he was "stunned" that Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) "now wants to massively increase pension spending again, even though we are facing that "The biggest aging spurt that has ever occurred in Germany."

Pension package II would be the “most expensive social law of the century,” warned Dulger. The project must therefore be “stopped immediately.” It would be “unfair and unjust to spend 500 billion euros more on pensions over the next 20 years.” According to the report, in the draft bill for the “Pension Level Stabilization and Generational Capital Act,” the federal government expects pension spending of 802 billion euros in 2045.

The President of the German Pension Insurance, Gundula Roßbach, is currently not worried about the development of pension costs. “The pension insurance is currently in a very good financial position,” she told “Bild am Sonntag”. Society has been aging not just today, but for decades. “So far we have succeeded in keeping the contribution rate stable, contrary to all forecasts,” emphasized Roßbach.

According to Roßbach, Germany's spending on pensions as a percentage of economic output is still below the EU average - in recent years mainly due to the increased employment of women.

From Roßbach's point of view, a stable labor market and the immigration of additional workers are central elements in making the statutory pension crisis-proof for future generations. For a “reliable pension,” however, “the contribution rate and also the federal subsidy for pension insurance would have to increase in the next few years.”

According to a representative survey by the opinion research institute Insa for “Bild am Sonntag”, 72 percent of German citizens do not believe that pensions are secure in Germany. 75 percent are also of the opinion that pensions in Germany are too low. According to the survey, 84 percent would like civil servants and freelancers to also have to pay into pension insurance.

mic/AFP