Ahead of the CDU federal convention in Stuttgart, North Rhine‑Westphalia’s Minister for Labour and Health Karl‑Josef Laumann (CDU) warned against further isolated demands coming from the “black‑red” coalition.
“Re‑peatedly new individual requests automatically draw head‑shakes from the other side of the coalition, which is understandable” he told the “Welt” on Thursday. “So it doesn’t help if the SPD proposes untried inheritance‑tax measures, or if the CDU insists on tightening part‑time rules or removing dental prostheses from the statutory health‑care benefit catalogue”.
Laumann stressed the need for a carefully balanced, comprehensive plan that aligns economic necessity with social cohesion. “What matters now is that the federal government, through the work of the committees, presents and implements an overall concept” he said.
A key part of the debate was the statutory retirement age. Laumann, one of the five deputies of party leader Friedrich Merz, argued for change. “People like roof‑ers and care‑workers are quoted to illustrate that working longer is not always easy. That isn’t true for many other fields” he said.
He proposed a combined calculation using both chronological age and years of professional experience. “To put it bluntly: someone who started working at 16 should be able to retire earlier than someone who enters the workforce in the mid‑20s”. He added that academics often hold jobs that allow them to work until 70, unlike construction workers, and that pension reform must take such realities into account. “Politics must reflect the real life of people”.
Laumann also took the party platform to task for its call to ban telephone sickness certificates. “Only about one percent of sickness certificates in Germany are issued by telephone” he noted. “It’s clear that this will not solve any problem. I would be cautious about putting something on display that changes nothing”.