The 30 pension reform proposals put forward by a specially-convened commission of experts and politicians have met with praise from conservative political groups and outcry from opposition parties and trade unionsin Germany.
The 13-person commission's detailed report is due to be officially released on Tuesday, but the main proposals were leaked to the German media this weekend, drawing a flurry of reactions. Government circles in Berlin say the Cabinet is expected to agree on a plan based on the reforms in the near future.
Speaking to the public at a federal government open day event in Berlin on Sunday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz insisted that reforms were the only way to ensure that Germany's expensive pension system would be affordable in future.
Federal Labor Minister Bärbel Bas, of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) also defended the need for reforms. "We are now putting measures in place for the younger generation so that they will have higher pensions," she said. "And we need to make sure that fewer people take early retirement."
Germany's coalition government split over reform agendaTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
