The president of the German Taxpayers Association, Reiner Holznagel, has called on the federal and state governments to reduce the number of civil service appointments and curtail privileges afforded to public sector employees, such as generous pension provisions and exemption from social security contributions.
Speaking to the “Rheinische Post”, Holznagel stated that public finances are significantly strained by the scale of civil service employment. He argued that the status of civil servants should be reviewed, with the scope of associated privileges critically examined. He suggested that such benefits are increasingly difficult to justify in comparison to the conditions experienced by employees in the private sector, given the widening financial disparity.
Holznagel specifically proposed limiting new appointments to a minimum, restricting them to core sovereign functions such as the police, tax administration and the judiciary. This call echoes recent statements by Carsten Linnemann, the General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who also highlighted the financial burden imposed by public sector pensions and advocated for reducing the number of civil service appointments.
