The Left Chairwoman Ines Schwerdtner calls for a pension system based on the Austrian model. “The fact that pensions in Germany are so low compared to the EU is the result of years of bad political decisions,” Schwerdtner told the dpa news agency. In Austria, where all employees pay into a common system, significantly higher pensions are possible.
»Anyone who continues to rely on private provision will do so pension a game of chance in which most people will lose in old age,” said the left-wing politician. “We need a strong statutory pension that everyone can rely on.”
Fuss about Merz’s statement about pensions
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) caused a stir this week when he said that the statutory pension would only continue in the future be the “basic insurance” for old age. This brought him criticism also from our own ranks. Social Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) then saidThe aim of the upcoming pension reform is a model that secures the standard of living from the three pillars of statutory, company and private pensions. Schwerdtner now contradicted this.
The Left is calling for the statutory pension level to be increased from around 48 percent to at least 53 percent. For this purpose, there should be “employment insurance” as in
Austria be founded, into which civil servants, self-employed people and politicians also pay. The pension level relates pensions after 45 years of contributions with average earnings to the current average wage.