SPD leader Bärbel Bas warns of coalition risk in Germany over pensions

Germany's Social Democrat (SPD) leader and Labour Minister Bärbel Bas warned on Tuesday that "things will become unsettled" within the country's coalition government if parliament fails to pass a contentious pensions reform package.

A series of reforms to the pensions system were agreed in the original coalition agreement between the SPD and the conservative bloc led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

A subsequent law was approved by Cabinet, but Merz is facing a rebellion within his party's ranks regarding a vote in parliament, especially among younger lawmakers.

When asked at an economic conference in Berlin about whether the SPD saw any possibility for changes to the bill as it stands, Bas said: "No, it has been firmly agreed."

While the bill could theoretically be amended as it moves through parliament, Bas rejected this. There was already "firm agreement" with the conservative CDU/CSU bloc on six key elements of the pension package, she argued.

"If anyone is jeopardizing the coalition, it is the CDU/CSU," she said, referring to the Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.

Regarding a parliamentary vote planned for December, Bas said: "If this doesn't succeed now, then we won't have any reform at all."

"If this vote doesn't succeed now, then things will become unsettled," she added. "It's already unsettled. Let's not delude ourselves."

The government wants the pension reform to come into force on January 1, 2026, but it has to be first passed in parliament.

The current compromise enables SPD to fulfill its election campaign promise of a guaranteed pension level of 48% of average income until 2031, while the conservatives can put in place an extended maternity pension for children born before 1992.

A group of conservative lawmakers, principally younger lawmakers accept the pension level of 48% until 2031, but want changes to the bill when it comes to pension levels after that date.

With regard to the rebellious group of younger conservatives, Bas said: "I don't quite understand the conflict that is now being raised by this group."

Merz ran his election campaign partly on party discipline and insisted his government would not tolerate the internal squabbling that characterized the previous three-way coalition under chancellor Olaf Scholz.