Heidi Reichinnek, the leader of the Left parliamentary group, sharply criticized the CDU economic council’s proposals. The council suggested limiting unemployment benefits to twelve months, and abolishing both the “mother pension” and the so‑called “pension at 63”. Reichinnek told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” that “you can only marvel at how precisely everything that comes out of Union rows for reforming existing systems turns out to be nothing more than a slap in the face of the majority of people in the country”. She added that the very fact that the economic council felt brave enough to submit such a paper shows “that in the Union all those morning airs are now being sensed that see the value of their fellow citizens solely in their labor”.
Meanwhile, Daniel Peters, the CDU’s top candidate for the fall state election in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern, warned against “side‑battle ground places” in the debate over social reforms and said the sheer volume of proposals was not helpful for the campaign. “It’s normal that there will be a colourful braid of ideas before the federal party conference” Peters told the same outlet, referring to the upcoming CDU party meeting in about two weeks. “Even bad ideas can be expressed. As a campaigning state chapter, however, I still wish for more focus on the essentials and no side‑battle ground places”.
Peters added that, in principle, he would be pleased if the political focus in Berlin shifted to “excessive bureaucracy, ineffective social, tax and planning law, and the far too high energy costs”. He struck sharply at the recent initiative by the CDU economic council – a party‑aligned business association – to fully privatize dental treatment, calling it “an extremely bad idea” and emphasizing that “a lot of dental services are already privately paid for”. “Dental health must not depend on one’s wallet” he warned.
