Thuringia demands relief from the federal government for GDR special pensions

Ahead of the meeting of the black-red coalition leaders in Berlin, the Thuringian state government is demanding that the federal government take on a further ten percent of the burden from GDR supplementary and special pensions. The federal and state governments have already agreed on this, said State Chancellery Head Stefan Gruhner.

The CDU politician appealed "for the coalition committee to reach a binding agreement that this federal-state agreement will be taken into account". The state budgets affected are massively burdened by the costs, with Thuringia alone contributing 400 million euros annually.

Thuringia calls for relief from 2026

In the GDR era, there were 27 supplementary pension schemes for individual occupational groups, for example in the healthcare sector. There were special pensions for members of the German People's Police, among others. After reunification, 60 percent of the costs of supplementary pensions were initially borne by the East German states and 40 percent by the federal government. At the beginning of 2021, the federal government increased its share to 50 percent.

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

Gruhner said that it was important for the eastern German states to receive relief. He called for a specific date from which the federal government would bear the agreed additional ten percent. "And that should also come on January 1, 2016 if possible," he said.