Woidke: Federal government should pay GDR special pensions

According to Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD), the federal government should take over the payment of GDR special and supplementary pensions in full. The financial burden on the East German states from the special and supplementary pension systems of the GDR is far too high, Woidke told the "Handelsblatt" newspaper. "And we have all already paid billions for this over decades. It is clearly the responsibility of the federal government."

Special and supplementary pensions for ex-police officers and others

When the GDR still existed, there were 27 supplementary pension schemes for individual occupational groups. Ex-employees of the army or police as well as former teachers, engineers, scientists and doctors are entitled to special and supplementary pensions.

In 2023, the East German states paid around 2.68 billion euros for the supplementary and special pensions of the GDR, according to figures from Saxony-Anhalt.

Coalition wants to increase share to 60 percent

The East German states initially covered 60 percent of the supplementary pension costs and the federal government 40 percent. At the beginning of 2021, the federal government increased its share to 50 percent.

In their coalition agreement, the CDU/CSU and SPD at federal level agreed that the federal government would ease the burden on the eastern states by covering a further ten percentage points of the corresponding law. Saxony-Anhalt's Minister President Reiner Haseloff (CDU) had demanded further relief for the federal states last year.