Even after the start of a new round of negotiations on the planned basic pension, a quick agreement of the coalition is likely to be a long way off. "I just do not expect a quick solution," said CSU Country Group chief Alexander Dobrindt after the meeting of a high-level working group. What Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) had previously presented has little to do with what the union and the SPD had agreed in the coalition agreement, criticized Dobrindt. Further meetings in the coming weeks are necessary.
According to SPIEGEL information, the next meeting is scheduled for October 11th. It was originally intended to continue the complicated discussions about the basic pension early next week.
On Friday morning, a working group was convened for the first time in the Chancellor's office, which is to bring about a compromise in the issue, which has been controversial for months. Heil, Dobrindt, Chancellor Helge Braun (CDU), Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD), Thuringia's CDU leader Mike Mohring, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) and Thuringia's Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD) took part in the deliberations.
Tiefensee said: "We still have a long way to go - apparently longer than I would have liked." Mohring said: "We have formulated a few more questions that we need to clarify now."