Chancellor Merz complains that Germans work too little. The SPD now wants to increase vacation entitlements.
Civil servants and public service employees will receive an additional vacation day starting next year. The entitlement thus rises from 30 to 31 days.
The CDU has already criticized so-called lifestyle part-time work. Merz had previously called for more work from Germans.
The debate shows differing positions within the coalition on working hours and vacation.
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Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called on coalition partner SPD to lift blockades on reform projects. At an event of the German Banks Association in Berlin, he announced serious talks for the evening. Energy policy, pension reform, and statutory health insurance are in focus.
Several CDU politicians have distanced themselves from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s comments on statutory pensions. Merz described pensions as at most a “basic security” for old age. Saxony-Anhalt’s premier Sven Schulze particularly urges consideration of the East German situation.”
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged the SPD to demonstrate greater willingness for reforms. In a speech to the CDU Wirtschaftsrat in Berlin, he warned of limits to his patience. He criticized the SPD for 'dreaming' of democratic socialism.
Germany's black-red federal government aims to pass a package of reforms covering taxes, the labor market, pensions and bureaucracy reduction before the summer break. A further coalition committee meeting shortly before the parliamentary summer recess in early July is set to make the decisions. Chancellor Friedrich Merz will invite social partners to the chancellery in early June.
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Trade union Verdi and the Municipal Employers' Association (KAV) have reached a tariff agreement for 2,800 employees in public transport in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The fifth round of negotiations concluded with this deal. It includes reduced weekly hours and pay rises until 2029.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Labor Minister Bärbel Bas announced Tuesday morning that all 33 recommendations of the pension commission will be fully implemented. The package is to be turned into law quickly.