Söder defends Germany's expanded mother's pension amid fierce criticism
At the Political Ash Wednesday event of his party, CSU leader Markus Söder fiercely rejected criticism of the expanded "mother's pension" (Mütterrente), a policy he had helped drive forward.
"What an arrogant campaign we've seen—especially from people with the highest pensions in television—against this," the Bavarian state premier said Wednesday in Passau. "For me and for us, the respect and life's work of ten million women in Germany hold special significance." He emphasized that this was about the generation that raised children in the 1970s and 1980s—"women who now receive the smallest pensions because, especially here in Bavaria, there was little childcare available back then, and employment opportunities in rural areas were not as strong as they are today."
"These women raised their children magnificently and now deny themselves basic necessities to give something to their grandchildren," Söder continued. At the same time, he noted, they see new arrivals in their neighborhoods in recent years who "receive all kinds of benefits despite never having paid a single euro into the social insurance system." He declared, "This cannot go on—it is not fair."
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