SPD on pensions

The SPD rules out raising the retirement age or lowering the pension level. It sees adequate retirement income as a central pillar of social security and social cohesion.

The SPD does not want to raise the retirement age. Pensions should not get smaller either. Older people should be able to live with dignity.

The platform lists a fair pension system, strong medical care, help for people needing care and their relatives, and accessible public transit and cultural offerings as tools for a dignified old age. The SPD rejects a higher retirement age and a lower pension level. It notes that pension values in east and west were equalized a year earlier than planned through the 2022 and 2023 increases.

The SPD wants Saxony to add its own money to the federal hardship fund. In the platform's view, injustices remain from the transfer of East German pensions into the unified system, especially for women who were divorced in the GDR.

Some people from the former East Germany get a lower pension than others. This mostly affects women who got divorced there. The federal government has a fund to help them. The SPD wants Saxony to add money to it.

The platform notes that pension levels in East and West have been aligned since 2023 but says disadvantages from the pension transfer persist. Saxony is to top up the federal hardship fund. The SPD wants to lobby the federal government to extend the deadlines. It also wants to use this to push for fixing further disadvantages affecting certain occupational and other groups.