Pension reform sparks crisis inside Merz’s CDU

A showdown over pension reform is pitting Merz against his own youth wing — with the coalition’s stability on the line.

Dear Reader,

Friedrich Merz is facing his third backbench rebellion in just over six months in power — and it could be the most serious yet.

After he failed to secure a majority for the supposedly routine formality of being elected chancellor in May and was forced into a humiliating retreat over a left-wing nominee for the Constitutional Court in July, he is now confronting a potentially destabilising standoff with his party’s youth wing over pension reform.

In August, his cabinet agreed on a law to reform the pension system, including a much-criticised paragraph that extends the so-called “mother’s pension” for women who took time out from work to raise their children. The Mütterrente is estimated to cost the state an additional several billion euros a year.

What has truly incensed young CDU lawmakers, however, is the government’s commitment to stabilise the current pension level until 2040. Germany’s pension system is straightforward: workers pay into funds, and that money flows directl…