The head of the German left-wing alliance BSW, Sahra Wagenknecht, is toying with a pension system based on the Austrian model. She calls for a referendum: “The citizens must decide: Casino or Austria? Speculating on the stock market or a pension fund like in Austria, where all citizens contribute and the pensions for long-term insured people are on average 800 euros per month higher than here,” Wagenknecht explained to the German news agency in Berlin on Tuesday. .
Wagenknecht’s criticism was based on the traffic light government’s plans to financially strengthen pension insurance through share investments. A state-funded capital stock would need to build up at least 200 billion euros by mid-2030. This capital is intended to prevent pension contributions from having to be increased too much. Minister of Finance Christian Lindner (FDP) and Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) want to permanently fix the pension level at 48 percent with their reform package.
Wagenknecht: Pensions must be ‘on a sustainable basis’
“Pensions do not belong on the stock exchange, but on a sustainable basis,” criticized Sahra Wagenknecht, member of the Bundestag and leader of the alliance. She described the fact that Labor Minister Heil implemented the FDP’s pet project with the stock pension as a “social-political low point for the SPD.”
The former left-wing faction leader referred on Sunday to the referendum on old-age and survivor’s insurance (AHV) in Switzerland. The Swiss voted for a thirteenth pension payment per year. In Austria there are even fourteen payouts, says Wagenknecht. The German pension system, on the other hand, is one of the weakest in Europe.
Source: Krone
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