Joachim Nagel, President of the Bundesbank, is advocating for a comprehensive pension reform that includes extending the required working life. Speaking to the “Handelsblatt”, he stated that increasing the statutory retirement age is unavoidable.
While acknowledging positive developments, Nagel welcomed the new personal retirement savings deposit, scheduled to start in 2027. This new framework will allow individuals to invest in exchange-traded index funds (ETFs) and is positioned as a replacement for the older Riester pension scheme. He praised this initiative, calling it a “correct signal and an important step toward a stronger capital-backed pillar for retirement provision”.
However, he immediately placed limitations on this optimism. Nagel clarified that the deposit’s benefits will only become apparent in the medium term and are not sufficient to resolve the pension insurance’s deep-seated issues in the coming years. Furthermore, he stressed that covering the structural pressure with continually increasing federal subsidies is not a viable solution.
Given these factors, the Bundesbank President insists that the statutory retirement age must be systematically linked to increasing life expectancy starting after 2031. Nagel argued that it is simply “logical that we work during part of our additional lifespan”.
