Budget: SPD and Greens criticize FDP’s five-point plan

Politicians from the SPD and the Greens have expressed their opposition to their liberal coalition partner’s five-point plan with plans for the federal budget and pensions.

The attacks on pensions by the FDP and the Union have “become a tiring ritual,” said SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert to the “Tagesspiegel”. Abolishing the current pension law rules “would mean a pension cut for millions of employees,” he said. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and SPD party leader Saskia Esken had previously rejected cuts for pensioners.

FDP against “pension at 63”

With the five-point paper that the FDP presidium now wants to adopt, the Liberals are calling for a “generationally fair budget policy”. This must comply with the debt limit of the Basic Law and must not overburden young people when financing pensions, it says. From the Liberals’ point of view, reforms of the social systems and the abolition of the “pension at 63” are needed – this is about the pension without deductions after a particularly long insurance period.

The first parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, does not want to change the pension without deductions after 45 years of insurance. “I don’t see any scope at all at this point,” Mast said on Deutschlandfunk in view of the controversy with the FDP. This is mostly about people who started working life at the age of 16 or 17. “They deserve our respect,” emphasized Mast. That’s why the so-called “pension at 63” will be retained.

“Pension at 63” was the name given to the pension without deductions after 45 years of insurance, since initially people born before 1953 were able to retire at the age of 63 without deductions. The age limit for this is now 64 years and 4 months for those born in 1960. For younger people, the entry age will increase to 65 by 2029.

Those who retire today at 64 have often not worked for 45, but for 48 or 49 years, said SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. “If you imagine that, as a craftsman as a carer or something else – that’s over, as Wolfgang Schäuble once said. They simply can’t do it anymore.” “Anyone who demands that this regulation be abolished is not creating an incentive to work more, but rather is reducing these people’s pensions,” said Kühnert.

Green politician questions debt brake

Green parliamentary group vice-president Konstantin von Notz criticized the FDP’s demand for compliance with the 2025 debt brake in the “Tagesspiegel”. “In times when our freedom is under as much pressure as it is currently from an aggressive Russia and extremists of all stripes, we have to rely on certainties Putting the debt brake to the test in its current form,” he said. With regard to necessary investments in the Bundeswehr, police and cybersecurity, he said that it was “about very fundamental questions for our community” and not about investments that it would be nice to be able to make.

The budget for 2025 should be ready by July

The coalition dispute over the federal budget for 2025 continues. It is known that several ministries do not want to comply with the strict savings requirements of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and have reported additional requirements.

Scholz hopes for an agreement by July, i.e. before the parliamentary summer break. He made this clear on Saturday evening at a panel discussion organized by the Editorial Network Germany (RND) in Potsdam. There he also spoke out against cuts for pensioners. “It shouldn’t be at their expense,” said Scholz. He also emphasized: “It is very clear to me that one thing is important for our country, namely that we do not question social cohesion.”

Development Minister Schulze warns against savings

Meanwhile, Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) once again warned against excessive savings in her house’s budget. There have already been significant cuts in the development sector, she said in the ARD “Report from Berlin”. “For the security that we need in Germany, we need military security, we need diplomacy, but we also need development cooperation,” she said. “We cannot withdraw from this responsibility if security in Germany is important to us. And that is important to us, and that is why development policy is a central part of it.”

FDP vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki, for example, called for cuts here. “I would make massive savings in the development aid budget. Because the first thing is to restore German competitiveness, only then can we help other countries,” he told “Welt am Sonntag”. Minister Schulze’s house has registered almost 12.2 billion euros. According to current financial planning, the budget should fall to around 10.3 billion euros.