Debate about wage increases for 1.7 million civil servants: do we really need that many civil servants?
Created: 12/20/2022 2:18 p.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
Germany's civil servants benefit from citizens' income.
What is legally correct raises the question of whether officialdom is still up to date.
A CDU politician has clear ideas.
Berlin – Citizens’ money is coming.
And as of January 1st, it's not just the previous Hartz IV recipients who will benefit from this.
But also: the approximately 1.7 million civil servants in Germany.
What initially seems bizarre has a legal background: In 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that civil servants' salaries must be 15 percent above basic security.
And because there will soon be more money for people at the lower end of the income bracket, civil servants' pay will also increase - and twice over.
Because: The pensions that are linked to the salary are also increasing.
With all officials.
Survey: Majority of Germans against wage plus for civil servants because of citizen money
So far, so legal, one might think.
But the fact that civil servants, of all people, who already have a secure and crisis-proof job, are benefiting from the new basic income, is met with rejection from the Germans.
In a survey commissioned by the "Bild" newspaper, 60 percent spoke out against the automatic increase in wages for civil servants.
Extra money: A CDU politician wants to reduce civil servant status to the core tasks of the state.
© Christoph Hardt/Wolfgang Maria Weber/imago (montage)
Just a jealous reflex?
Or maybe a good reason to ask how up-to-date the civil service still is - and whether Germany really has to afford so many civil servants?
Carsten Linnemann is someone who has a clear opinion.
The CDU Vice says: "The civil service in Germany must be fundamentally revised".
In his party, the 45-year-old member of the Bundestag is one of the critics of the bloated state apparatus.
Official status: CDU Vice Linnemann sees Switzerland as a role model
If Linnemann had his way, the matter would be clear: the civil servant status would only be limited to sovereign and security-related tasks.
Police, judiciary, financial administration and army.
"Switzerland is showing us how - and I'm not aware that the administrations are doing worse there," Linnemann told the
Munich newspaper IPPEN.MEDIA
.
It is undeniable that civil servants in Germany have a strong lobby.
It's about privileges that are fiercely defended.
These include non-cancellability, the advantages of private health insurance and a security in old age that employees and workers can only dream of.
For example, civil servants receive up to 71.75 percent of their gross salary as a pension, which they received during the last two years before retirement.
Federal officials quickly get a monthly pension of over 3,000 euros.
For comparison: the average pension in Germany was 1203.53 euros (men) and 856.05 euros (women) per month.
Pension burdens are a threat to public budgets
Aside from all the justice discussions, economists and pension experts are worried about something else: pensions are financed from tax money.
And they therefore represent a major burden for current and future generations. Public finance experts see the so-called sustainability of public budgets at risk.
The federal, state and local governments already have to spend more than 80 billion euros a year on pensions.
"If you also add future pension and benefit entitlements, the sum for current pensioners and active civil servants together is 3.3 trillion euros," said CDU Vice Linnemann to our editorial team.
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Support comes from the Taxpayers' Union.
Its President Reiner Holznagel told the
Münchner Merkur
: "Overall, the civil service practice of the past decades must be viewed very critically".
Holznagel also complains that hardly any provisions have been made for future pension payments.
"These mistakes are now difficult to correct," says Holznagel.
Association of Taxpayers: “Being a civil servant is expensive for the state”
It is – at least in theory – definitely the case that civil service offers the state some advantages.
As an employer, the state does not have to pay social security contributions for active civil servants.
The benefit is then reversed when the civil servants leave the service.
"The bottom line is that civil servants are an expensive variant of personnel policy for the state and taxpayers," said Holznagel the
Munich Merkur
.
What particularly annoys the President of the Taxpayers' Association: "Exactly the politicians who used to rely on civil servants on a large scale are no longer in office and do not have to worry about financing the horrendous pension and supply costs".
About IPPEN.MEDIA
The IPPEN.MEDIA network is one of the largest online publishers in Germany.
At the locations in Berlin, Hamburg/Bremen, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Vienna, journalists from our central editorial office research and publish for more than 50 news offers.
These include brands such as Münchner Merkur, Frankfurter Rundschau and BuzzFeed Germany.
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After all: CDU Vice Linnemann sees it the same way and judges: "This is politics at the expense of future generations".
Linnemann announces a reform concept for his party.
Even if the politician announces grandfathering for existing civil service relationships: resistance is to be expected when privileges are abolished.
And the Union, as an opposition party, has no way of implementing it at the moment anyway.
So Germany's civil servants can continue to look forward to citizen income with peace of mind - and the double plus in salary and pension.
