The CDU Economics Council has sharply criticized the demands put forward by the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), particularly calls for higher taxes on high earners and companies, as well as the requirement for mandatory company pension schemes. Speaking to “Rheinische Post” (Wednesday edition), Wolfang Steiger, Secretary General of the CDU’s Economics Council, asserted that the DGB’s recent proposals demonstrated a lack of understanding regarding the fundamental economic principle that prosperity must first be generated before it can be distributed.
Steiger argued that the union’s tax concept, which involves significantly hiking rates on income and corporate taxes, would drive key players and companies out of Germany. Furthermore, he expressed concern that mandatory company pensions, if they necessitated increased burdens on employers, would not only restrict employees’ freedom of choice regarding retirement savings but would also make labor considerably more expensive.
Regarding the DGB chief Yasmin Fahimi’s reference to higher contributions to pension insurance in other European nations, Steiger dismissed this as a diversionary tactic, claiming Fahimi failed to consider the full scope of the burden. He countered by pointing out that for single individuals without children whose income matched the national average, the tax and contribution burden stood at 34.9% of labor costs in the OECD average for 2024, compared to 47.9% in Germany.
Steiger concluded by urging the DGB to adopt a more realistic perspective-either out of a sense of national responsibility or self-interest-before the upcoming summit at the Chancellery. He warned that the ideas recently presented shared a common flaw: if implemented, they would effectively eliminate the working population whose interests the DGB is supposed to represent.
