Trade Union Workers Demand Central Body for Social Policy - CDU's labour wing demands Merz take charge of welfare reform debate
Ahead of the CDU federal party conference, dissatisfaction within the party's labor wing over its social policy direction is growing louder. Stefan Nacke, chair of the Union parliamentary group's employee faction (CDU), has called for centralized oversight of social policy from the Chancellor's Office. "Just as a resilient democracy needs a National Security Council, a stable welfare state requires central strategic leadership," he told Tagesspiegel (Monday edition) in Berlin. He is therefore advocating for a "National Council for Social Security."
The body, he argued, must strategically integrate policy areas—labor and social affairs, health, family, housing, the economy, and finance—and coordinate cross-departmental reforms in collaboration with the federal states. While Nacke acknowledged that numerous commissions and expert panels are already working on reform proposals, he warned: "Without political consolidation, clear priorities, and strategic leadership, the next round of reforms risks getting bogged down in petty details."
Earlier, the head of the CDU's labor wing criticized the party's approach to the welfare state debate in an interview with AFP, demanding stronger leadership from Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU). "Right now, there are many individual commissions and a flurry of scattered proposals being thrown into the arena," Dennis Radtke, chair of the Christian Democratic Employees' Association (CDA), told AFP over the weekend. "But at the moment, there's no guiding hand to pull all of this together in the end."
While Radtke stressed that it is not Merz's job to personally draft a comprehensive welfare reform plan, he argued that as Chancellor and party leader, Merz must "coordinate and consolidate these proposals to some extent."
In his Tagesspiegel interview, Nacke called for a "turning point for the welfare state" and pushed for sweeping structural reforms. Public debate, he noted, has so far focused too heavily on external security, the military, and foreign policy—yet strategic government coordination is equally vital on the domestic front.
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