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Federal Minister of Labor Heil: "Stabilize pensions in the long term"
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Fabian Sommer / dpa
Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) plans to restructure pension insurance.
So he wants to limit the pension contributions in the coming years through new investments on the capital market.
"In order to make long-term provisions, we are creating generation capital in the form of a share reserve for the statutory pension insurance," Heil told the dpa.
"It's money well spent over the long term to prop up the contribution into the 1930s."
With the share reserve, the traffic light would be breaking new ground.
Up to now, the pension has only been financed by pay-as-you-go contributions and tax revenue.
The FDP had already campaigned for a share pension in the 2021 federal election campaign, with part of the pension contributions going directly to a capital fund.
In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had instead announced a capital stock of initially ten billion euros.
However, Finance Minister Christian Lindner recently brought a much higher amount into play: "We need a three-digit billion sum in the medium to long term so that the income can have a noticeable effect on the stabilization of pension contributions and the pension level," said the FDP politician in December.
Heil confirmed that a pension reform would be launched in the next few weeks and that the level of pensions would be permanently secured.
The pension level describes the security power of pensions in relation to wages and is currently 48.1 percent.
The aim of the coalition is the long-term stabilization of the statutory pension as the mainstay of old-age security.
"That's why we're renewing the contract between generations with a stable pension level and the build-up of an additional share reserve," says Heil.
»That is the common conviction of the traffic light coalition.«
Heil also underlined the importance of high employment for retirement.
“The more success we have in securing skilled workers, in the participation of women in the labor force, in qualified immigration, in training and further education, in the employment of older people, the more it will help us with our pensions,” he said.
sol/dpa