Dirk Wiese, the parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, disagreed with Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) in the view that the statutory pension should only be seen as a basic safeguard for old age in the future. Speaking to RTL and ntv, Wiese stated that people “must be able to count on the statutory pension”. According to the SPD politician, the public pension insurance is a security measure for many people across the country, noting that many contributed to it “with the hard work they earned with their own hands”. He emphasized that this cannot be merely a basic safeguard, insisting that people must rely on the statutory pension insurance.
Despite this firm stance, Wiese indicated an openness to further developing the pension system. He pointed out, for instance, that they have already implemented the Riester pension reform, describing it as a new, important, and private capital-funded pension model. Additionally, Wiese mentioned that he could also easily envision further strengthening and expanding the second pillar of occupational company pensions. Beyond these points, Wiese advocated for broadening the base of contributors, stating that he strongly supported members of the Bundestag contributing to the pension system. He also suggested questioning whether neighboring countries were doing things right with their pension provisions, citing Austria and the Netherlands as examples of countries that have implemented “bold models”.
Finally, regarding upcoming discussions, Wiese referred to the pension commission established by the coalition. He stated that the commission will present its findings on June 30th, adding that it was “good to let this commission do the work now and then address the results”.
