CDU lawmaker warns Germany's social security system needs deeper reforms
Increasing taxes on higher incomes cannot simply be offset by maintaining special arrangements like the mini-job system, Stefan Nacke, a CDU member of the Bundestag and head of the Union faction's employee group, wrote in a statement reported by POLITICO (Monday). This is especially true in light of the planned reforms to family co-insurance, he added.
Nacke supports the health minister's draft proposal, which includes exemptions for family insurance to reflect real-life circumstances—such as families with young children, caregiving responsibilities, disabilities, or retirees.
However, the CDU politician warned against pushing permanent employment into mini-jobs, effectively removing it from standard social insurance coverage. This, he argued, undermines solidarity, distorts competition, and delays social security protections. "Anyone who wants stable contributions must strengthen the contribution base," Nacke stated. "Permanent work should gradually be moved out of the mini-job exception zone and back into regular, socially insured employment."
Nacke also raised the question of whether contribution stability is merely being managed or structurally secured. "The draft provides an initial, correct answer," the social policy expert noted. "But the bolder response would be to stop treating mini-jobs as a minor practical issue and instead address them as a fundamental regulatory challenge."
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