No election program can do without this topic.
What can pensioners and citizens expect from the parties when they retire?
A comparison sheds light on the darkness.
Berlin - As in the past, pensions are a hot topic in elections, including the upcoming federal election.
With 21 million people, pensioners are one of the largest groups of voters in Germany.
That is why the parties try to make them happy with gifts in their election manifestos or at least not to step on their feet too much.
But the contributors must also be taken into account.
Will the parties succeed in the balancing act?
We tell them what they intend to do with their pension if they win an election.
Union: Retirement age should be linked to increasing life expectancy
The CDU / CSU have not yet published an election manifesto, it should not be adopted until the end of July.
Therefore, the reform proposal of the scientific advisory board of the CDU-led Ministry of Economics (BMWi) is used instead.
According to this report, the pension insurance is threatened with major financing problems from 2025.
One reason is that in 2018 the federal government replaced the sustainability factor with the so-called double stop line.
Accordingly, the contribution rate in the statutory pension insurance is limited to 20 percent and the pension level must not fall below 48 percent.
The report calls for a return to the old pension formula.
Otherwise the pension contribution would rise from the current 18.6 percent to over 23 percent in the 2030s.
The pension level, on the other hand, would still drop to below 46 percent, with increasing tax subsidies to the pension fund.
Therefore, the pension is required at 68.
To be precise, the retirement age should be made dynamic.
With increasing life expectancy, one should also retire later.
Instead of a fixed standard retirement age, the insured person should be able to freely choose the start of retirement within a "retirement entry window", ie work longer if desired.
In return, employers should give older employees a guarantee of continued employment.
In addition, the issue side should be rotated.
In this way, pension increases could not be linked to wage developments, but to the inflation rate.
According to another proposal, the current pension level of 48 percent could only apply to a certain basic amount.
A lower pension level should apply to any further pension entitlements.
Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen: Basic pension should become a "real guarantee pension"
"Germany.
Everything is included. ”Is what Bündnis90 / The Greens call their draft program.
In it, the party strives for "reliable old-age insurance for everyone".
A long-term safeguarding of the pension level at 48 percent has high priority.
This is to prevent more and more people from being dependent on basic pensions.
Retirement at 67 should be retained.
In order to secure the level of pensions, the party wants to increase female employment through a full-time right of return, to create a real immigration law and to improve the employment situation of older workers.
If necessary, the tax subsidy should be increased.
In a first step towards citizens' insurance, self-employed persons and members of parliament that have not previously been covered are to be included in the statutory pension scheme.
The basic pension is also to be developed into a “real guarantee pension”.
A capital-covered old-age provision in the form of a citizens' fund is intended to supplement the statutory pension.
SPD: Civil servants, the self-employed, freelancers and politicians should pay into the pension fund
The Social Democrats have christened their election program “Out of respect for your future - The SPD's future program”. It says in the chapter “Securing old age”: “We want to strengthen the statutory pension and stand for a permanently stable pension benefit and a permanent pension level of at least 48 percent.” At the same time, an increase in the retirement age is rejected. The SPD intends to maintain the statutory requirement that long-term insured persons can retire without any deductions before reaching the standard retirement age.
Civil servants, the self-employed, freelancers and politicians should also pay into the statutory pension insurance in the future.
In the case of civil servants, however, the overall level of provision should not be reduced.
Further goals of the SPD are the protection of disability pensioners from the “risk of poverty”, gender-equitable pensions and the expansion of company pension schemes.
The Riester pension is to be replaced by a new offer based, among other things, on the Swedish model.
That is, it should be managed by a public institution.
AfD: Insured persons should be given more freedom when it comes to retirement age
"Germany. But normal ”is the name of the AfD's election manifesto. The party wants to make the pension future-proof by a higher tax subsidy protects the contributor from an impending overload. Non-insurance benefits are to be paid from tax revenues. However, this is not to be financed by tax increases, but by deleting “ideological policy measures” such as migration, climate and EU policies.
The insured should also be granted more freedom, for example when deciding on entering the retirement phase.
The pension amount should depend on the contributions paid and the retirement age.
25 percent of the old-age pension should not be counted towards the basic security, so that pensioners have enough to live on even with a low income during their working life.
The AfD wants to abolish politicians' pensions, but not include civil servants in the statutory pension insurance.
The civil servant status should, however, be limited to originally sovereign tasks such as the armed forces, customs, police or justice.
The burden of justice between families and the childless is to be established in that families are reimbursed for each child 20,000 euros from their parents' pension insurance contributions from tax revenues without reducing their pension entitlements.
The AfD wants to eliminate the injustices in the transition of the Eastern pensions through a fund that grants those affected lump-sum one-off payments in an appropriate amount.
Ultimately, double taxation of pensions should be prevented and the tax-free allowance should be increased.
FDP: "Enkelfitte pension" thanks to the modular principle
The FDP calls its draft program “There has never been more to do”. There you will find the item "Grandchildren's pension". The aim of the party is to modernize the old-age pension system, to make it sustainable and financially viable and to strengthen the funded part of old-age provision. According to the modular principle, forms of statutory, company and private old-age provision can be freely combined with one another. All claims from this should be able to be taken along when switching between employers or between employment and self-employment.
Flexible retirement based on the Swedish model is also required.
Those who retire earlier receive a lower pension, those who retire later receive a higher pension.
Anyone who is 60 years of age and has at least the basic security level with all pension entitlements should decide for themselves when retirement begins.
Additional earnings limits are to be abolished and partial pensions are to be made possible in an uncomplicated manner.
The FDP wants to introduce a statutory share pension for private old-age provision.
For this, part of the contribution to the statutory pension insurance should not flow into the pay-as-you-go system but into a fund.
Two percent of gross income is suggested.
In order to combat poverty in old age, the FDP relies on a basic pension that is to be paid out by the pension fund.
This should be higher than the basic security and save poor pensioners from going to the social welfare office.
As part of the “Debt Brake 2.0” for social insurance, non-insurance benefits should have to be financed entirely from the federal budget.
This is to secure the sustainable financing of all social insurance.
In doing so, no benefits should be reduced, but allocated correctly.
Left: The pension level is to be raised to 53 percent immediately
The left’s manifesto is “Time to act.
For social security, peace and climate justice ”.
The section “Good pension, good life - solidarity employment insurance” deals with the pension.
In it, the party rejects that whoever lives longer should only retire later.
The pension must also not be "secured" via the capital markets, since in this case it is uncertain.
It must continue to be financed equally by the company and half by employees.
As an immediate measure, the pension level is to be raised to 53 percent.
Anyone who currently receives the current average pension of EUR 1,048 will then receive EUR 1,152.
According to calculations by the Left, the increase in pension levels would cost an average earner only 33 euros more per month.
The contribution for a private Riester pension could be waived.
The Left wants to take back the pension from 67 and enable a discount-free pension from 65 again.
After at least 40 years of contributions, it should be possible to retire from the age of 60 without any deductions.
Pension contributions are to be paid in again for the long-term unemployed.
The self-employed, freelancers, civil servants, managers and politicians should also pay into the pension insurance.
Furthermore, the party promises a solidarity, tax-financed minimum pension of 1,200 euros.
Times of low wages are to be compensated for by introducing the “pension based on minimum earnings points” for periods after 1992 as well.
Furthermore, periods of training, periods of unemployment, raising children and caring for retirement should be better assessed.
The left wants to bring the Eastern pensions into line with the Western level, convert the Riester pension into the statutory pension on a voluntary basis, and abolish double taxation of pensions.
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