Merz: I Will Prioritise Welfare Reform Over Popularity, Says Pension Overhaul Is 30 Years Late
On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Chancellor Friedrich Merz told an employers' association conference that he was ready to sacrifice his popularity in opinion polls to push through long-overdue welfare reforms benefiting younger people. Reuters reported his words: 'I have no intention of becoming the nation's darling. My intention is to set this country on the right course so that, above all, we can once again offer the younger generation decent prospects.'
Merz said Germany was at least 30 years late in overhauling its pay-as-you-go retirement system, and that pension contributions paid by workers and employers would have to rise temporarily to accommodate demographic change. The remarks placed welfare reform at the centre of his government's agenda, and mean the coalition must soon produce concrete plans on pensions and the labour market.
He spoke a day after SPD co-leader and Labour Minister Baerbel Bas resigned, adding uncertainty to a coalition already shaken by bruising state-election defeats in September. The labour ministry owns the welfare-reform file, and incoming minister Alexander Schweitzer will face pension negotiations immediately; CDU figures had previously criticised Bas over delays to the pension overhaul, making the pace of reform a flashpoint inside the alliance.
With his government languishing in polls and the far-right AfD leading national surveys, Merz's declaration was both a pledge to employers and a signal to his own party and the public. Whether the reforms can pass the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, where state governments hold seats, will test the governing capacity of a coalition in office for less than 18 months, with the countdown to the 2029 federal election already under way.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：德国总理默茨（左）到访欧盟委员会，与冯德莱恩握手。摄影：Dati Bendo／European Union 2025（欧盟委员会视听服务），CC BY 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
