With a compromise on the ground rent, the Grand Coalition has rescued itself into the half-time break (read a commentary on the agreement here). Sharp criticism came from the opposition to the unification of the Union and the SPD.
CDU and CSU had let the Social Democrats back on the table, said FDP leader Christian Lindner the German Press Agency. "The idea of a basic pension has turned into a discretionary pension: taxpayers' money flows, where there is no need in individual cases, and those who have worked for less than 35 years fall through the grate." The mid-term review of the GroKo now show "more shade than light".
Also left-fraction leader Dietmar Bartsch expressed himself very critical. "For e-cars, there are lavish buys with the watering can, and in terms of land rent, the coalition looks into the wallets of retirees who have paid in for decades," he told Spark News. The Greens called for improvements. The entrance hurdles should be lowered - 30 instead of 35 years in contribution and insurance periods, said parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring Eckardt .
The concept negotiated by the Coalition Committee provides for a "comprehensive income test", with a deduction of 1250 euros for single persons and 1950 euros for couples. The basic pension is to start for existing and retirees on 1 January 2021. Prerequisite is 35 years of contributions in the statutory pension insurance.
"It's just a compromise"
The new basic pension will reach, according to the acting SPD chairman Malu Dreyer between 1.2 to 1.5 million people.
There were also occasional criticisms from the governing parties. Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus campaigned - also with a view to their own ranks - for approval. "It's just a compromise, and both sides need to know that," said the once skeptical CDU politician in the ARD "Report from Berlin".
Mood against the compromise made in the Union, the fraction executive member Axel Fischer . "The compromise on the basic pension does not fulfill the spirit of the coalition agreement," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine. The need-test between the SPD and the Union is far behind the demands. "This compromise is not acceptable to me."
The SPD social politician Karl Lauterbach spoke in the "world" of a disappointing "minimal solution". Hilde Mattheis , chairwoman of the Democratic Left Party, commented: "The income test is a compromise that is far from the SPD entitlement to a basic pension without need assessment."
