Andrea Nahles and the Pension Reform
The Grand Coalition’s pension reform is closely associated with the name Andrea Nahles.
The new pensions act in Germany is seen above all as the achievement of Andrea Nahles, the country’s labour minister. In the autumn of 2013, the 43-year-old member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany), in a “grand coalition” government comprising the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and SPD, took over at the helm of one of the biggest ministries, with a budget of some 122 billion euros and overall responsibility for pensions and labour market policy in Germany. An experienced social democrat, she submitted the draft for the new pensions act to the cabinet just a few months after the government came to power. The act, the key aspects of which are “retirement at 63” and the “mothers’ pension”, came into force on 1 July 2014. In future, many people in Germany will be able to retire at the age of 63 on a full pension – so long as they have paid into the system for 45 years. Meanwhile, millions of women who gave birth to children before 1 January 1992 will have two years of maternity leave counted towards their pensions, twice as much as before. According to the ministry, this can mean over 300 euros more pension a year per child.
A social democrat with close ties to her home
Nonetheless, the pensions act is somewhat controversial in view of demographic changes. Nahles defended the reform, describing it as a fair acknowledgement of the job of child-raising done by women above all and of the hard years of service rendered by those in long-term employment. Apart from the pensions package, the dynamic politician’s plans for a minimum wage also resulted in some of the new government’s most important projects being quickly driven forward. This garnered respect for Nahles in the German capital, even above and beyond her own party. A graduate in German studies with a somewhat unconventional bent, she has been involved in social policy ever since the 1990s. Back then, she became a member of the Bundestag (Germany’s parliament) as the federal chairwoman of the SPD youth organization, though she lost her mandate again four years later. Since 2005, Nahles has again been a member of parliament and one of Germany’s high-profile female politicians. From 2009 to 2013, Andrea Nahles also served as the SPD’s general secretary. When she became a mother in 2011, comments she made in interviews sparked a public debate about whether it was possible to pursue a career as a politician while at the same time having a family. To this day, the social democrat lives with her husband and child in a village in Rhineland-Palatinate and commutes to the German capital.
