German trade unions give Merz’s reform push a frosty reception

Trade union leaders gave German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s reform agenda a hostile reception on Tuesday, with hecklers shouting down Merz’s pitch for a pension overhaul and other measures.

In a speech to the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) in Berlin, Merz argued that significant changes of the welfare system and labour market rules are needed to revive the country’s stagnant economy.

“These reform projects are not a threat; they are a great opportunity,” Merz argued to Germany’s largest labour alliance, as some delegates whistled and heckled the conservative leader.

The reform push has set off a bitter dispute in Merz’s coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats, helping drive Merz’s approval ratings to record lows just a year after taking office.

Merz had previously promised an “autumn of reforms” to cut costs in Germany’s social welfare system, but legislation has been slow to materialise.

At the end of April, the coalition struck a deal on health insurance changes which had previously faced opposition from the labour-aligned SPD.

On Monday, the chancellor promised to continue by passing pension reforms — labelling this “undoubtably the most difficult challenge” — by late summer.

Merz argued that the need “to modernise our country” had been neglected for too long.

Germany has the oldest working population in the European Union, with a quarter of the country’s workers aged between 55 and 64, according to figures published in February.

Merz warned that demographic trends will mean that a shrinking share of younger workers will have to support growing numbers of pensioners in the future.

He has called for increased private investment in funding retirement.

The sputtering performance of Europe’s largest economy — which is widely forecast to grow only about 0.5 percent this year — is “simply too little to maintain our prosperity”, Merz said.

Without growth, “there will also be no effective welfare state, good healthcare, or adequate pensions,” Merz warned.

DGB chairwoman Yasmin Fahimi, who was re-elected to her post on Monday, countered that any reforms must include a “fair distribution of the burden” and rejected government proposals to loosen working time regulations.

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