{"id":172386,"date":"2025-12-03T06:32:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/172386\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T06:32:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:32:07","slug":"generation-war-dogs-pension-debates-in-france-and-germany-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/172386\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Generation war\u2019 dogs pension debates in France and Germany \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Fair to all generations\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers in France are sparring this week over a highly contentious plan to freeze inflation adjustments on pension payments next year, part of a wide-ranging effort to trim billions of euros from the budget and get the deficit below 5 percent of gross domestic product.<\/p>\n<p>The debate in France echoes similar conversations in Germany, where\u00a0Winkel is among a\u00a0group of young conservatives\u00a0who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/germanys-merz-confronts-conservative-rebellion-over-pension-reform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">rebelled against a pension reform<\/a> package\u00a0put forth by Merz\u2019s government, saying current benefits for older people are too generous and asking for a plan that is \u201cfair to all generations.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A group of leading economists argued in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.handelsblatt.com\/politik\/deutschland\/aufruf-top-oekonomen-fordern-vollstaendigen-rueckzug-des-rentenpakets\/100177101.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">op-ed in German newspaper Handelsblatt<\/a> that Merz\u2019s proposed pension package would be \u201cto the detriment of the younger generation, who are already under increasing financial pressure.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The leaders of Germany\u2019s coalition\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/germany-coalition-crisis-merz-agreement-deal-pension-combustion-engine-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">set out to resolve the dispute<\/a>\u00a0last week, with Merz vowing to take on a second, more far-reaching set of pension reforms as early as next year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2249560688-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7592328\"  \/>Winkel is among a\u00a0group of young conservatives\u00a0who\u00a0rebelled against a pension reform package\u00a0put forth by Merz\u2019s government, saying current benefits for older people are too generous and asking for a plan that is \u201cfair to all generations.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0| Photo by Nadja Wohlleben\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>But\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0unclear whether that proposal has appeased all young conservatives. In a letter this week, the group said its 18 lawmakers would decide individually how they will vote on the immediate pension package, which is set to go for a vote on Friday.\u00a0Every\u00a0vote will matter, as Merz\u2019s fragile coalition has a majority of only 12 parliamentarians.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Merz\u2019s center-right bloc held a test vote to see if there was enough conservative support to pass the pension reform package. The results of the internal vote were unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Opinion surveys in Germany and France show\u00a0that much of\u00a0the public favors protecting existing pension systems and benefits. Leftist parties in both countries have also strongly pushed back against measures that would freeze or lower pension benefits, arguing that the public pension system is a core element of social cohesion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Fair to all generations\u2019 Lawmakers in France are sparring this week over a highly contentious plan to freeze&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[54113,5168,72,943,5858,4644,9146,176,1814,8864,292,958,61,1095,60,17137,1558,174,175,5066,8027],"class_list":{"0":"post-172386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-amelie-de-montchalin","9":"tag-budget","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-cost-of-living","12":"tag-demographics","13":"tag-elections","14":"tag-emmanuel-macron","15":"tag-finance","16":"tag-france","17":"tag-friedrich-merz","18":"tag-germany","19":"tag-growth","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-inflation","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-national-budgets","24":"tag-pensions","25":"tag-personal-finance","26":"tag-personalfinance","27":"tag-tax","28":"tag-welfare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}