The debate about the higher retirement age is met with rejection in politics.
At the same time, the scientists' warnings are becoming increasingly dramatic.
Berlin / Munich - How serious is the situation regarding the retirement benefits of German pensioners?
Dramatic, if you believe different economists.
While government politicians such as Peter Altmaier (CDU) and Olaf Scholz (SPD) do not see an increase in the retirement age to 68 as necessary, experts sound the alarm and are amazed at the negative attitude in politics.
The problem is: it could be due primarily to the fact that shortly before the general election, nobody wants to burn their fingers with regard to the election campaign.
Retire at 68?
Professors criticize the government - "lying to themselves and the citizens too"
Prof. Klaus Schmidt, chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Munich LMU, complained to
Bild
: "Politicians have not done their homework on pension policy, we wanted to remind them of that with the report." of the upcoming election so that the proposals contained therein "can be discussed in the upcoming coalition negotiations".
Prof. Gabriel Felbermayer, head of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, takes the same line and says: “If politics does not reform the pension system, the burden on the budget will increase massively.
If, on the other hand, politicians pretend two and two are five, they are lying to themselves and also to the voters. "A new study paints an even worse scenario for German workers and goes one step further: Economists at the Institute for the German Economy ( IW) call for a further increase in the retirement age in the long term to not just 68 (which cohorts would be affected) - but 70 years, from 2052 onwards.
Retirement required at 70 - otherwise financial losses threaten
As the
Rheinische Post
reported on Thursday, an increase in the retirement age to 68 years would not be enough to cope with the financial burden due to the huge costs. After all, that is the proposal with which an advisory committee from Altmaier's economic department is causing a stir. According to the now known IW study, the increase required from 2042 would not be able to offset the burden, according to the report.
As the population ages, the contribution rate to statutory pension insurance will inevitably have to rise - despite the simultaneous decline in the pension level and the retirement age at 67. "With a continued increase in the standard retirement age up to 70 years from 2052, the increase in the contribution rate could be slowed down and the security level stabilized at the same time", is the assessment of IW study author Jochen Pimpertz.
For this, the retirement age would supposedly have to be raised by two months per year from 2031.
Otherwise, the pension contribution rate would be increased in Germany - or the pensions would be reduced, according to the IW forecast.
Politically desirable in this country is a contribution rate for pension insurance of a maximum of 22 percent and a security level of at least 43 percent of the average employee salary.
The debate about raising the retirement age has been going on for some time. But how many employees in Germany can even reach retirement age at 67?
(PF with AFP)