Carsten Linnemann, the CDU’s general secretary, rejected the demands of the party‑aligned “CDU‑Wirtschaftsrat” (economic council) that dental visits should no longer be paid for by statutory health insurance. In an interview with “Stern”, he said Germany needs a future agenda, but that “individual proposals such as the recent debate over dental costs are not goal‑oriented”. He maintained that the opposite is correct, stressing that “it is not in the solidarity community’s interest to discontinue support for prevention and early detection”.
Linnemann noted that the federal government has already taken “important first reform steps” including the launch of basic security and the implementation of the active pension scheme. He said further actions must follow, especially concerning pensions and health, and that commissions will work over the coming weeks and months to develop proposals that should be awaited before any new measures are enacted.
He cautioned against alienating citizens. “The majority of people in our country see that reforms are necessary, and for a long time there was no such high willingness to go along with them” he said. “This will only succeed if there is a comprehensive concept that considers everyone, including us politicians, and does not cherry‑pick specific groups”.
On Sunday, the CDU‑Wirtschaftsrat released a paper titled “Agenda for Employees in Germany”. Among its proposals, the group demands that dental visits cease to be covered by insurance, that unemployment benefits be limited to only one year, and that both the maternity pension and the pension at 63 be eliminated.