The German government wants to include civil servants, the self-employed and politicians in the payment of state pension contributions. These plans provoked protests from the police.

The police union (GdP) opposes Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil’s (SPD) plans to integrate civil servants into the contributory pension system in the long term.

“It would be good for the federal government to increase pensions in Germany and at the same time keep our pensions for us officers,” GdP federal president Jochen Kopelke told the Editorial Network Germany (RND), as quoted by Zeit.de. The post received more than 700 comments within hours of posting the topic.

Until now, civil servants received a retirement pension (Pensionen) financed by the state, while ordinary pensioners (Renten) are paid from pension insurance income, which is only subsidized by the state.

All on deposit

The Left, the Greens, NGOs and the AfD have long demanded that civil servants and independents be included in pension insurance, as is the case in other European countries such as Austria.

Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil does not rule out the expansion of the mandatory pension insurance base. “We will also discuss in Germany how we can include other groups in the protection of compulsory long-term pension insurance,” he said. Then there would be no retirement pensions (Pensionen). This caused outrage among police unions.

“The security agencies support the safety of all people in the Federal Republic at any time of the day or night,” said the president of the federal police union. “These people deserve proper pensions and reduced working hours.” Regardless of whether they are civil servants or employees, police officers should be able to retire without deductions and early, Kopelke urged.

The president of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, also called on civil servants, independent activists and politicians to pay into public pension insurance. “This would significantly stabilize insurance systems. You can start with those who are now newly appointed civil servants,” Fahimi told Bild am Sonntag.

Stock financing

The German government has been announcing the pension package for months. His plans were presented last Tuesday in Berlin. The second pension package of the ruling coalition was actually announced for 2023. For the first time, it seems, billions of euros from pension funds will enter the stock market.

The concept, presented recently by ministers Geil and Lindner, envisages a pension level of 48%, which should also be supported by public deposits in the capital market. The Association of Taxpayers and Pension Insurance Germany is skeptical of this concept.

The introduction of social capital aims to create a new source of financing for mandatory pension insurance for the first time. In the long run, this should ease the burden on taxpayers and the federal budget.

For this, social capital of at least 200 billion euros must be created by the mid-2030s, according to the RND. The profit received will be directed to the subsidy for pension insurance.

The second main goal of the state pension package in Germany is to provide them at a relatively constant level.

Baby boomer pressure

Millions Baby boomers Those born in the 1950s and 1960s retire and turn from depositors into pensioners. Thus, the level of pension protection is likely to decrease in the coming years and the contribution rate will increase.

According to Labor Minister Hubertus Geil, the goal now is to “secure forever” the pension level, which indicates the ratio of the cost of the pension to wages.

“She is not responsible for the fall in the pension level,” Heil said, justifying the new measures. It would be unfair, especially to young workers, if they received less pension for their contributions. “This would destroy trust in pension insurance,” warns the minister.

The money should be invested in the capital market, the proceeds of which will be directed to the stabilization of contributions. The Ministry of Finance said that in this way, from the mid-2030s, an average of another ten billion euros could be added to the mandatory pension insurance system annually.