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Berlin (dpa) - CDU leader Armin Laschet is aiming for a cross-party pension reform after the federal election - and has mixed reactions from the SPD and FDP.

"I want a large social consensus, also with a pension commission in which everyone is involved," said the possible candidate for chancellor of the Union of the German press agency in Berlin.

Fundamental approval came from the FDP.

The coalition partner SPD spoke of a diversionary maneuver and called on the CDU to first clarify its own course internally.

Laschet said that with a bipartisan consensus he wanted to enable “trust across the reigns”.

"We now have to see: How can we make pension systems future-proof for future generations?"

This question will have to be answered and planned for the next 10 or 15 years.

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"We have always said that we need a longer working life when we are all getting older," said Laschet.

"The introduction of the pension at 67 was the right decision."

Pension policy needs "trust over changing periods of government", justified the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister, his move in the direction of the other parties.

"I believe that - regardless of which government comes afterwards - we have to answer the pension question again if possible in a broad social consensus."

Laschet recalled pension policy since the 1950s.

The then Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (CDU) tried to make such decisions across parties because different governments would come into office in such long periods of time.

"Because you know: four years later, there may be completely different ones, and they are bound by these decisions."

Such a perspective is also necessary after the next general election in September.

"Regardless of a major reform, we will have to answer this question for the next 15 years."

When asked whether he supports the CDU / CSU's latest demand by the Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion (MIT) to reverse the deduction-free pension from the age of 63, Laschet said the CDU would anchor its pension plans in the election manifesto.

"There are joint working groups in which MIT and the social committees and other pension experts work together."

You have to think about pension policy over long periods of time.

"Something like that cannot be stipulated with a single demand."

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The deputy SPD chairman Kevin Kühnert spoke of a transparent diversionary maneuver.

"Laschet would do well to first ensure clarity with an internal party pension commission, which actually is the common position of the CDU," he told the dpa.

Kühnert emphasized: "We are not available for pension cuts through the back door."

The SPD had long since presented its pension concept.

“It is clear to us that good pensions require good wages.

The increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros that we demand would not only be an act of justice, but also an enormous boost for the statutory pension. "

The grand coalition has already launched a joint pension commission with employers and unions, which presented its results a year ago, said Kühnert.

"The fact that a lot remained vague was not least due to the massive internal division of the Union."

Social and economic wings of the CDU are in disagreement about the retirement age, the pension level, the inclusion of self-employed and civil servants, as well as the contribution assessment limit.

Most recently, the abolition of basic pensions and maternity pensions was even discussed.

"Such a mess drives the insured in Germany insane."

The FDP welcomed Laschet's initiative in principle.

"It is urgently necessary to finally think in terms of pensions in decades and across legislative periods," said the pension policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Johannes Vogel, of the dpa.

"However, the CDU will have to show its colors in the election manifesto, because a coming federal government itself cannot avoid bold action."

What is needed is more financial stability in the face of demographic change.

"And we have to modernize the system so that it fits better with people's diverse lives."

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Vogel criticized the concept of outsourcing pension policy in commissions recently crashed.

"It is correct that all parties have to leave their mental drawers and be ready for new thinking."

The FDP parliamentary group is therefore proposing a completely flexible retirement age based on the Swedish model.

She wanted to make the system stable for all generations through a statutory share pension and, in particular, fairer for low-wage earners.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210403-99-73314 / 2