Remember when Germany was bullying Italy and Greece over their unsustainable state pensions? Mainly at the behest of Germany, the EU imposed harsh austerity measures on Greece and Italy. To make sure they complied, Brussels strong-armed both countries to install EU technocrats as prime ministers. All the while, the sober Germans were finger-wagging the profligate Greeks and Italians that their generous state pension systems were unsustainable.
The German state pension system will collapse unless the retirement age is raised in line with a rapidly rising life expectancy, the head of an influential trade body has warned.
No doubt, a good many Greeks and Italians will enjoy a well-earned sense of schadenfreude, to use an appropriately German word, at the news.
But, is the problem really just all down to geriatric Huns? The media would certainly have you believe so.
Germany, which has one of the oldest populations in Europe, is expected to age rapidly over the next few decades. This means that its state pension system will be under strain from both weaker funding from a smaller workforce and higher demand for payouts from a growing number of retirees.
Under Germany’s current system, the state pension guarantees retirees at least 48pc of the average wage until 2025 […]
Rainer Dulger, president of the Confederation of German Employers’ Association, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the system would break down within five years without intervention.
He said: “For every 100 contributors, there are currently about 50 pensioners; in 15 years, there will be 100 contributors for every 70 pensioners. This means that the financing of our pension system is on the verge of collapse.
Telegraph
But there’s a bit more to the story than that.
Germany is also waking up to the price of the self-indulgent virtue-signalling of it former chancellor.
Women, especially from the states of former East Germany, people with low educational qualifications, people who have been unemployed for long periods and foreign-born citizens (migrants) are the groups most likely to swell the ranks of poor German pensioners.
So, it’s not just Das Boomers, after all.
With this measure, Germany is moving away from the pensions systems of northern Europe and closer to those of the south.
Equal Times
The “south” being places like Greece and Italy. Well, well, well…
Perhaps it’s the “south’s” turn to start lecturing those smug Germans and imposing some austerity measures of their own. Maybe install a technocrat or two.
Then again, given that Greek and Italian revulsion to Brussels’ bullying is widely attributed to the rise of radical political parties across the spectrum, maybe not.
We all know what happened in Germany, the last time those sort of shenanigans went on.
