Monika Schnitzer, the head of the Wirtschaftsweisen, has called on the upcoming federal government to implement structural reforms in the pension insurance and measures to secure skilled workers. Schnitzer told the “Rheinische Post” (Monday edition) that the most important issues are structural reforms of the pension insurance to limit the increase in contribution rates, supportive measures to make workers of all age groups fit for the structural change and measures for the quick and targeted recruitment and integration of skilled workers from third countries. The task of the Minister of Economics will be to accompany and promote the energy transition in a bureaucracy-free and competitive way, to continue the bureaucratic reduction and to create the necessary prerequisites for a productivity-enhancing structural change, said Schnitzer, the chairwoman of the Economic Council of the Federal Government. Schnitzer warned that it will be crucial for the future economic, financial and labor ministers to work well and with trust together in order to set the course so that the German economy can quickly get back on track. The times are already difficult enough due to the looming trade war, the necessary energy transition and the urgent need to strengthen technological sovereignty. “Quick and noiseless work is required” she said. The Finance Minister must quickly present a budget proposal that uses the financial leeway in a future-oriented way and explores savings opportunities that do not brake growth and are socially balanced. The Labor Minister must address the impact of demographic change, Schnitzer said. Marcel Fratzscher, president of the DIW, also called on the upcoming federal government to quickly bring in tax and pension reforms. “The new federal government should set a fundamental tax reform and a pension reform as central priorities” said Fratzscher in an interview with the “Rheinische Post”. A pension reform should ensure that the pension does not shift wealth even more from the young to the old and from the poor to the rich. “The retirement age must rise and pension increases in the future must be smaller in order to not further burden the young generation” said the president of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). “We also need an immediate tax relief for both companies and people with low and middle incomes in order to get the economy back on track in the short term” said the head of the DIW. “A fundamental tax reform requires a relief of work, which should be financed by reducing subsidies and tax privileges and by more heavily taxing large fortunes” said Fratzscher.
Schnitzer: Upcoming Government Must Prioritize Pension and Workforce Reforms
