Volker Geyer, the president of the German civil servants’ union (DBB), rejected the idea of adding state employees to the statutory pension scheme. “Including civil servants would solve no problem of the statutory pension system” he told the “Frankfurter Rundschau”. “It makes absolutely no sense and would be far, far more expensive for the state-and therefore for taxpayers. So, keep away from it”.
According to a recent YouGov poll commissioned by the German Association of Insurance Companies, 62 percent of Germans support broadening the group of contributory pensioners. Geyer counters that view by citing the 2020 Pension Commission report, which warns that temporary relief measures would eventually lead to large, additional pension payouts that could not be covered for the long term.
He also criticised the way social security is burdened by benefits that are not financed through contributions. “In the statutory pension scheme, for example, the surcharges added to the basic pension are not covered by contributions” he said. While he agreed that the “maternal pension” is fundamentally the right thing to do, it should not be financed solely by those who pay contributions. “If politicians would be honest about these issues, social security would be in a much stronger position” Geyer added.
