Before the CDU national congress in Stuttgart, Karl‑Josef Laumann, the Minister of Labour and Health for North Rhine‑Westphalia, warned that more isolated proposals from the black‑red coalition would only cause reflexive shake‑downs on the other side. “Constant new singular demands naturally lead to head‑shakes from the other side of the coalition” he told “Die Welt”‘s Thursday edition. “So it does us no good if the SPD keeps pushing untested inheritance‑tax ideas, or if the CDU thinks it needs to debate restricting part‑time work or removing dental coverage from the statutory health‑insurance catalogue”.
Laumann stressed the need for “a well‑thought‑out, comprehensive concept that balances economic necessity with social cohesion”. He added that the current focus should be on presenting and implementing a full picture that emerges from the commissions in the federal government.
Speaking strongly on the debate over the statutory retirement age, Laumann-one of five deputies to CDU leader Friedrich Merz-pointed out that while roofers and nurses are often cited as examples of occupations where extended working is hard, this is not true for many other fields. “A combination of age and years in the profession is required for the pension calculation” he said. “If someone started working at 16, they should be able to retire earlier than someone who only enters the workforce in their mid‑20s”. He noted that academics, who can often work until 70, differ from construction workers, and reforms should take such realities into account.
Laumann also criticized the party’s motion that future telephone‑issued sickness certificates should be prohibited. “Only about one percent of sickness certificates in Germany are issued by phone” he said. “Therefore this measure won’t solve the problem. I would be very cautious about putting something on display that hardly changes anything”.
