Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has warned the black-red coalition not to rely solely on the Left Party for the vote on the pension package. The Left plans to abstain, which could aid the government, but Klingbeil demands a majority of their own by Friday. The reform aims for more sustainable pension financing but faces criticism within the Union.
The vote on the controversial pension package in the German Bundestag is imminent. Vice Chancellor and SPD parliamentary leader Lars Klingbeil stressed in the ARD program 'Maischberger' that the coalition of SPD and Union must secure its own majority. 'It is now about organizing our own majority by Friday as well,' he said. He thanked the Left for their responsible conduct but cautioned: 'But my claim is that we have our own majority.' In the coming three and a half years, numerous decisions will be needed, where reliance on support from the Left or Greens cannot always be assumed.
The Left Party's parliamentary group has announced it will abstain on Friday. Abstentions do not count toward calculating a simple majority, so SPD and Union could achieve the required majority even with some opposing votes from their own ranks. The SPD expects unified approval from its 120 MPs. In the Union's faction meeting, a test vote on Tuesday saw 10 to 20 votes against and a few abstentions. With the Left's abstentions, Union and SPD would reach a majority of 252 votes.
Nevertheless, the Union leadership intends to fight for every vote. Parliamentary manager Steffen Bilger (CDU) told t-online: 'We want to ensure our own majority and not rely on what the opposition does or does not do.'
The core point of contention in the reform is the legal anchoring of a minimum pension level at 48 percent of the average wage until 2031 to secure long-term financing. The young group in the Union criticizes this sharply and threatens to block it.