From 2030, the standard retirement age will be 67. The CDU wants to gradually raise it further
Source: pa/dpa/Carsten Rehder
The Union plans to tie the standard retirement age to life expectancy. In addition, a standard product is to take the place of the state-subsidized Riester pension – and this is mandatory. For every newborn there should be state start-up capital for provision.
DThe CDU wants to link the retirement age directly to life expectancy from 2031. A “further increase in the standard retirement age” could become necessary if life expectancy continues to increase as forecast, according to a preliminary concept of the party’s internal commission “Social Security”, which is available to WELT. “Specifically, the standard retirement age then increases by 4 months for every year of life gained.” So far, the age at which statutory pension starts has risen in small steps to 67 by 2030.
The content of the CDU paper will be included in the party’s new policy program, which is due to be adopted by the end of the year. In mid-May, the policy and program committee will meet for three days to evaluate the concepts from the various departments. It had already become known this week that tax politicians from the “Prosperity” commission were in favor of an increase in the top tax rate and a uniform tax rate for inheritance tax, among other things.
The concept of the social politicians also provides for significant changes in private old-age provision. It is therefore planned that a new, state-subsidized standard product will replace the controversial Riester pension. “This product should be mandatory for all employees, unless they object to its inclusion (opt-out).” Opt-out means that everyone pays there, unless they expressly object.
In contrast to the Riester pension, which has been criticized as too expensive, the standard product is said to have “no acquisition costs, the lowest possible administrative costs and no full performance guarantee”. According to the plans, parents should be able to take out and save on the standard pension product for their newborn child – including a government subsidy. “The state should pay a certain amount as start-up capital into the product for each newborn at birth,” says the chapter of the working group on old-age security of the eleven-page paper.
In principle, the party wants to strengthen funded pension provision. This also includes better dovetailing of state-subsidized private old-age provision with company pensions. An “equally funded company pension” is to be introduced as a mandatory requirement for low earners. “For people with low hourly wages, we want to support the employee’s share of the company pension with state subsidies,” it continues.
For years, representatives of banks and insurance companies have been fighting against a mandatory standard product for private old-age provision with an opt-out function. They fear less business for their financial distributors. Consumer advocates, on the other hand, have long been calling for a contradiction solution for the Riester successor, with reference to the high sales costs.
At the federal party conference of the Christian Democrats in Leipzig in 2019, many delegates spoke out in favor of mandatory private pension provision. At that time, it was agreed to give the financial sector three years to significantly increase the number of new contracts. This did not succeed, for years the number of Riester contracts has stagnated at around 15 million.
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