Germany’s government has reiterated its plans to merge the country’s various pension systems in order to safeguard retirement provision across the nation, drawing fire from across the political spectrum.

Last Friday, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Bärbel Bas, said that there should be a common pension system for employees, civil servants, and politicians.

At present, these groups sit outside the main government pension system, not making contributions but still able to withdraw a pension at retirement.

Speaking to the German newspaper Stern this week, Bas said that she intended to pave the way for civil servants to be included within the pensions system, calling it a matter of ‘justice’.

She said: “For me, a common insurance system into which all working people pay is a question of justice in the future. And we have to talk about who still has to be civil servants at the federal, state, and local levels today."

The possible new SPD chairwoman also specified her plans to the extent that she explained who would be affected by the new reform. This would have no consequences for current civil servants, but the changes would only affect future civil servants

She added: "The last years of civil servant life decide the amount of the pension, while for a statutory pensioner the entire working life counts."

Although Bas said that she recognises that it could be difficult to establish a common insurance system, she nevertheless sees it as necessary.

In a separate interview given to the Funke media group, Bas said that the fund paying the state pension would have more money due to the increased number of people paying into the system. The aim, she said, of increasing the income into the state pension fund was to stabilise the system in light of demographic change.

However, Bas’s remarks have not gone without criticism.

Currently, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, head of the CDU party (Bas is a member of the SPD), has said that he opposes civil servants being included within the pension system.

Likewise, the Head of the Chancellery, Thorsten Frei (also CDU), has also rejected the inclusion of civil servants. Both have pointed out that such a development is not included within the coalition agreement that the parties signed up for.

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