The massive criticism from the Union on a basic pension compromise with the SPD also continues after the postponement of a scheduled Monday summit meeting of the Grand Coalition on the subject. Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus precluded a required by the SPD land rent without means test. "That will not work with us," said the CDU politician of the "world".
His group is unwilling to "overrule the principles of the pension and the basic benefits system," said Brinkhaus of the "world". "We do not want to distribute tax money to people who do not need the support," he added.
Several young MPs also sharply criticized a basic pension compromise without means test. The Hamburg CDU politician Christoph Ploss told the newspapers of the Funke media group, he expected party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, "that it makes it clear to the SPD that with the CDU a deviation from the coalition agreement is not to make". The agreement on the basic pension provided for in the coalition agreement is already a compromise, the 34-year-old stressed.
"Entry into the unconditional basic income"
The head of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban, described a "basic pension without real means test" against the editorial network Germany as "entry into the unconditional basic income". "Other social gifts to calm the SPD must not join the Union faction, for us a limit has been reached," said the JU chairman.
The head of the boys' group in the Union faction, Mark Hauptmann, called a basic pension without means test in the "Bild" newspaper a "offense to the younger generation". "Instead of investing in the future viability of our country, such as digitization, a strong infrastructure and economy, we create new injustices with the ground rent," he criticized.
The leader of the left-wing group, Dietmar Bartsch, has criticized the debate in the coalition on a basic pension. "The coalition is on the verge of making a disrespectful pension out of the right basic pension idea," said Bartsch of the German Press Agency in Berlin. "Anyone who has paid 35 years must have a claim that his pension is well above the basic security." There must be no discussion or a means test. "
The social association VdK also criticized that in the current discussions about the basic pension the means test is not yet off the table. "People who have worked all their lives must not be dependent on social services in their old age", says the VdK. As many people as possible should benefit from the basic pension.
Top meetings postponed
The SPD and the Union have been arguing for months about the structure of the basic pension. A summit meeting planned for Monday evening, which should have reached an agreement, was surprisingly postponed until 10 November on Sunday. Both sides justified the shift with the fact that there was still further need for clarification.
Previously, a compromise line had been made to make the payment of the basic pension dependent on the pensioners' income, not an assessment of the need, in which their entire assets would be included. On the other hand, there was resistance in the Union faction.
The Union argues that the basic pension should be paid only after examination of the individual neediness - so it is agreed in the coalition agreement. The SPD rejects such an examination, which significantly increases the circle of beneficiaries.
The grand coalition is under pressure in the basic pension question. A failure of the negotiations would call into question their ability to act and strengthen those in the SPD who want to leave the coalition.
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