Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Der letzte Koalitionsausschuss des Jahres bringt Bewegung aber auch neue Bruchlinien. Die Regierung einigt sich auf ein großes Infrastruktur-Zukunftsgesetz, das Autobahnen, Schienen und Wasserstraßen schneller voranbringen soll. Verfahren werden verkürzt, Umweltprüfungen gestrafft, Projekte als „überragendes öffentliches Interesse“ eingestuft. Beim Heizungsthema bleibt es dagegen beim Stillstand. Die Rentenreform nimmt Form an und bei der Ukraine-Unterstützung setzt die Koalition auf die Nutzung eingefrorener russischer Vermögen. Eine Entscheidung wird kommende Woche erwartet, möglicherweise flankiert von einem weiteren Treffen mit Selenskyj in Berlin. Ein Update über Baustreit, Haushaltsdruck und eine Koalition, die kurz vor Weihnachten Geschlossenheit demonstriert – und doch vor einem schwierigen Jahr 2026 steht. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

BERLIN — German lawmakers passed a much-debated pension package through parliament on Friday, ending an internal dispute that had threatened to undermine Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government mere months after taking office. The vote came after a group of 18 young conservative lawmakers threatened to block the package, arguing current pension benefits are unsustainable. Merz’s relatively weak coalition, consisting of his conservative bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), only has a narrow majority of 12 lawmakers, making it vulnerable to even modest defections in the ranks. Ultimately, most of the young conservatives supported the legislation to avoid weakening Merz’s coalition government. In order to win their backing, Merz had pledged to undertake a more sweeping reform of the pension system as early as next year. “This is not the end of our pension policy,” Merz said in a statement after the vote. “It’s only the beginning.” Earlier this week, Germany’s far-left Die Linke (The Left) party announced its lawmakers would abstain from the vote, effectively ensuring its passage by reducing the overall number of votes needed to pass the pension legislation. Still, Merz continued to try to secure the support of young conservatives in order to avoid the politically damaging impression that his coalition was dependent on indirect far-left support to get the package over the line. Ultimately, only seven members of Merz’s conservative bloc voted against the package, giving the conservative leader a so-called chancellor’s majority. Still, the harder task of more comprehensive pension reform as early as next year now looms over the coalition government. Merz will have to balance the demands of his center-left coalition partners in the SPD to maintain many benefits with young conservatives who believe current benefit levels cannot be sustained.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Die Abstimmung über das Rentenpaket endet mit einer Kanzlermehrheit. Das Ergebnis fällt klarer aus als erwartet und erspart der Regierung eine Niederlage. Rixa Fürsen und Rasmus Buchsteiner erklären, wie knapp die Lage im Vorfeld war und es geht um die Folgen des Tages. Für Merz bleiben Spuren, denn die Debatte hat Vertrauen gekostet. Gleichzeitig wird klar, dass es nicht die letzte Kraftprobe bleiben wird. Schon die Reform der Schuldenbremse könnte die nächste sein. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Der Bundestag entscheidet heute über das Rentenpaket. Die Abstimmung ist der Höhepunkt eines langen Streits, der die Koalition stark belastet hat. Gordon Repinski und Karina Mößbauer, Chefreporterin Politik bei The Pioneer sowie Host des Podcasts ‘Hauptstadt – Das Briefing’ ordnen ein, wie viel politisches Kapital die Regierung in diese Entscheidung gesteckt hat, warum die Kanzlermehrheit zu einem entscheidenden Symbol geworden ist und wie die jüngsten Signale aus den Fraktionen zu deuten sind . Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage, ob die Koalition überhaupt noch reformfähig ist. Die Junge Gruppe der Union hat mit ihrem Widerstand die Debatte verändert, gleichzeitig aber erlebt, wie viel Druck in entscheidenden Momenten entsteht. Mößbauer erklärt, wie sich CDU, CSU und SPD in dieser Lage bewegen und warum viele der Versäumnisse dieser Woche während der Koalitionsverhandlungen entstanden sind. Zudem richtet sich der Blick auf die politische Stimmung im Land. Trotz großer wirtschaftlicher und geopolitischer Herausforderungen bleibt die Regierung im Klein-Klein hängen.  Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

LONDON — Britain’s Treasury unveiled a provisional licensing authorization regime for start-up financial firms, allowing them to start operating before they get full authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority. The move comes as part of the British government’s deregulatory push to try and encourage growth in the U.K.’s sizable financial services and start-up industry. Speaking at POLITICO’s Financial Services forum Thursday, City Minister Lucy Rigby said U.K. start-ups that don’t yet meet the “onerous” conditions for formal authorization under the Financial Services and Markets Act would be “be able to obtain a provisional license.” However, Rigby stressed that firms will still need to meet some qualifications to receive the licenses, stating: “We are maintaining standards which we believe are vital for consumer protection.” “It will enable them to grow, to be able to secure the further investments that we know that they will need to be able to grow,” she added. It’s the latest sign that the British government is aiming to ease the regulatory rulebook in the U.K. in a bid to spur growth. Prime minister Keir Starmer wrote to the Financial Conduct Authority last year ordering them to produce a list of pro-growth initiatives that could be implemented by the regulator. TREASURY DOESN’T WANT TO ‘RUSH’ ON PENSION CHANGES Speaking at the forum just a week after a headline-grabbing and chaotic U.K. budget, Rigby was also grilled on whether the financial services industry will have the chance to press for changes to some of its more unpopular policies. Rigby said “a huge part of [her] role” involves listening to feedback from the financial sector, “because I think that’s how you ultimately get to the best results, and certainly how you get to things that will actually work.” Several policies announced in the budget, such as a cut to salary sacrifice limits for pension savers, are not due to come into effect until 2029, which has left some in the pension sector hopeful that changes can still be made. “It’s critical that there is sufficient time spent working with industry on the detail of exactly how this is going to operate, and we definitely do not want to rush that,” Rigby said. The City minister also addressed Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision not to hike taxes on banks at last week’s budget, saying the government wanted “to see the U.K. staying competitive globally and indeed, becoming more competitive.”

The EU will on Thursday unveil plans to supercharge its finance industry, tearing up swathes of rules in a bid to take on Wall Street. The package, which is massive in scope and ambition, would amend at least 10 financial laws to crack down on protectionism and unclog the EU’s financial plumbing. But Brussels’ ambitions to create a U.S.-style financial market will reopen political wounds, especially its plan to create a powerful EU watchdog for financial markets. Despite the bloc’s urgent need for private investment, progress could be bogged down by political divisions over the strategy. “If we’re stuck in a never-ending discussion about how to organize supervision … that will not take us closer to our objective,” Swedish Minister for Financial Markets Niklas Wykman said. The Commission’s overarching goal is to remove barriers to investment in the bloc, allowing more money to flow to struggling businesses so the EU can better keep up with economic powerhouses like the U.S. and China. With national budgets under strain from a bruising pandemic and years of inflation, Brussels is hoping to unlock €11 trillion in cash savings held by EU citizens in their bank accounts to breathe life into the economy. It plans to do that by breaking down technical barriers and busting protectionism between the EU’s 27 national money markets, as well as by changing rules that create national barriers to finance flows and by creating a powerful EU watchdog for financial markets. The EU’s finance chief, Maria Luís Albuquerque, who has led work on the revamp, told POLITICO in an interview: “It’s going to be a difficult discussion, of course, but these are the ones worth having, right?” | Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images Some capitals, though, view the proposal as a power grab and are determined to keep oversight of financial markets at the national level. And there are other tweaks in the package that will dredge up painful recent debates over issues like crypto rules or trading data. Countries are already warning that the Commission should keep its nose out of their business. Sweden, the EU’s best-in-class country for financial markets, has warned the EU executive not to interfere with any rules but instead to focus on boosting the appetite of EU citizens to invest in products like stocks and bonds, rather than parking their cash in savings accounts. Supervision is “not the problem and it’s not the solution to the problem,” Wykman told POLITICO. Among other ideas the Commission was mulling ahead of the official publication — according to documents seen by POLITICO — are a stronger EU-wide public ‘ticker tape’ of trading data, an expanded pilot program for decentralized finance to include all products and crypto firms, and a reduction in paperwork to make it easier to sell investment funds across the EU. The plans are sure to please some industry players, like stock exchanges or central securities-depositary groups that operate in multiple EU countries. But they will also inevitably be opposed by others, such as asset managers who are reluctant to be subject to increased EU oversight, or stock exchanges that don’t want to see their pricey trading data services undercut by a stronger public EU ticker tape. The technical shifts, plus the idea of an EU-wide watchdog, are ambitious but are also reminders of how limited the Commission’s powers are compared those deployed by EU countries at the national level. The Commission can’t make game-changing reforms in areas like national pensions, taxation or insolvency law for businesses, all of which are major obstacles to a single money market. Nor will many national governments spend the political capital needed to make domestic reforms for the sake of the EU economy. Nonetheless, the Commission is sticking to its guns. The EU’s finance chief, Maria Luís Albuquerque, who has led work on the revamp, told POLITICO in an interview: “It’s going to be a difficult discussion, of course, but these are the ones worth having, right?”

BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative-led coalition received an unsolicited political lifeline from an unlikely place — but it comes at a cost. Germany’s far-left Die Linke ― The Left ― party on Wednesday announced that its lawmakers will abstain from a vote on a pension package set for Friday, a move that effectively assures the package will pass and potentially saves Merz from a humiliation that would have further undermined his already-weak coalition government. The announcement from far-left leaders came as Merz was attempting to quell a rebellion by 18 young lawmakers inside his own conservative bloc who argue that current pension benefits aren’t sustainable. Because Merz’s coalition has a narrow parliamentary majority of only 12 votes, passage of the pension package had remained in doubt. The Left’s leaders said they were acting not to help the coalition, but rather to protect pensioners from cuts. Conservatives “have been playing power games at the expense of millions of pensioners across the country,” The Left’s parliamentary group leader Heidi Reichinnek said in a statement. “It is absolutely disgraceful that the conservative bloc does not even allow pensioners to have butter on their bread.” The Left’s decision to abstain bails Merz out of an immediate political mess that casted doubt on the ability of his coalition — an ideologically divergent alliance between Merz’s conservatives and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — to pass key legislation just several months after taking office. Johannes Winkel, a young conservative lawmaker, said in an online post that he intended to vote against the pension package on Friday. | John Macdougal/Getty Images At the same time, The Left’s unsolicited help is an embarrassment of its own kind, creating the politically damaging impression that Merz’s coalition required the support of far-left foes his party views as too radical to work with. Should The Left’s 64 lawmakers follow through on the vow to abstain in the Bundestag on Friday, it will bring down overall number of votes coalition lawmakers need to pass the pension legislation, providing indirect help. In a kind of face-saving measure, conservative leaders continue to try to secure support of the young conservative rebels for the pension package. Yet, on Wednesday, it was still unclear whether the effort would bear fruit. Coalition leaders last Friday announced a compromise on pensions — agreeing to weigh far more sweeping reforms as early as next year — that they had hoped would assuage the concerns of young conservatives. But many continue to reject the immediate pension package. Johannes Winkel, a young conservative lawmaker, said in an online post that he intended to vote against the pension package on Friday. “Germany urgently needs reforms because demographic change will have an unprecedented impact on public finances,” he said. “Intergenerational justice finally requires practical decisions instead of symbolic politics.” Rasmus Buchsteiner contributed reporting.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Kurz vor der entscheidenden Rentenabstimmung verschieben sich die Mehrheitsverhältnisse dramatisch: Die Linke kündigt an, sich zu enthalten und könnte damit das Rentenpaket retten. Doch in der Unionsfraktion bleibt die Lage angespannt. Zwischen junger Gruppe, Zweiflern und einem verärgerten Parlamentskreis Mittelstand wächst der Druck auf Friedrich Merz und Jens Spahn, eine eigene Mehrheit sicherzustellen. Rixa Fürsen und Rasmus Buchsteiner berichten direkt aus dem Bundestag über eine Fraktion im Ausnahmezustand: taktische Überlegungen, Galgenhumor, Nervosität auf den Fluren und die Frage, ob ein Sieg mithilfe der Linken nicht zum politischen Bumerang für die Koalition wird. Außerdem: In Brüssel legt die EU-Kommission zugleich erstmals einen detaillierten Plan vor, wie 165 Milliarden Euro aus eingefrorenen russischen Vermögen für die Ukraine genutzt werden können. Doch Belgien blockiert weiter und für Europa wird die Zeit knapp. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Die Union kämpft um ihre Mehrheit beim Rentenpaket. In der Fraktion wurde am Dienstag deutlich, wie brüchig die Unterstützung in der Fraktion ist. Gordon Repinski und Rasmus Buchsteiner ordnen ein, wie viele Abweichler sich in der Union abzeichnen, wie man sie umstimmen will und weshalb Merz und Co. dennoch auf eine knappe Zustimmung setzen. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview erklärt Johannes Steiniger, CDU-Generalsekretär in Rheinland-Pfalz und früheres Mitglied der Jungen Gruppe, warum er trotz inhaltlicher Kritik zustimmen will. Er spricht über Verantwortung, die Grenzen der Kompromissbereitschaft und die Frage, wie die Koalition danach weitermachen kann. Anschließend geht es um ein mögliches nächstes Konfliktfeld. Das Tariftreuegesetz sorgt für die nächsten Spannungen mit der SPD. Carlotta Diederich schildert, warum die Entwürfe im Parlament hängen, welche Rolle Arbeitgeber und Gewerkschaften spielen und wie knapp der Zeitplan vor Jahreswechsel wird. Zum Schluss ein Blick auf den FC Bundestag. Vom Jahresempfang berichtet Rixa Fürsen und sie spricht mit dem möglichen Trainer bei der Parlaments-EM, Felix Magath. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

PARIS — A generational reckoning is brewing in Paris and Berlin, where a new wave of younger politicians is putting pensioners on notice: The system is buckling and can’t hold unless retirees do more to help fix it. Culture, language and local politics may add a distinct flavor to each debate, but the European Union’s two biggest economies are dealing with the same issue — how to pay for the soaring costs associated with the retirement of baby boomers.   The problem is both demographic and financial. Declining birthrates mean there aren’t enough young people to offset the boom in retirees at a time when economic growth is sluggish, salaries have stagnated and purchasing power isn’t evolving at the same rate as it did for previous generations. And with the cost of real estate skyrocketing, young people feel that buying a home and other opportunities afforded to their parents’ generation are increasingly out of reach.  With budgets already strapped thanks to priorities such as rearmament in the face of Russian aggression, reindustrialization and the green transition, a growing number of young politicians from the center to the right of the political spectrum are calling out retirees for not contributing to the solution.  Some lawmakers in Germany, like 34-year-old Johannes Winkel, are calling for greater “intergenerational justice.” The 38-year-old French MP Guillaume Kasbarian is going a step further, arguing France should rethink its pay-as-you-go system — similar to Germany’s — in which current workers fund retirees’ pensions through taxes. The 38-year-old French MP Guillaume Kasbarian is going a step further, arguing France should rethink its pay-as-you-go system — similar to Germany’s — in which current workers fund retirees’ pensions through taxes. | Amaury Cornu/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images Targeting pensioners is a politically dangerous proposition. They are a reliable voting constituency, heading to the ballot box in greater numbers than younger generations — and they lean centrist. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc got an estimated 43 percent of the vote among people aged 70 and above in February’s general election, and older voters helped Macron secure reelection in 2022.  French Budget Minister Amélie de Montchalin told lawmakers last month that she didn’t “want to trigger a generation war” over the government’s fiscal plans for next year.  But she — and her counterparts across the Rhine — may not have a choice. ‘FAIR TO ALL GENERATIONS’ Lawmakers in France are sparring this week over a highly contentious plan to freeze inflation adjustments on pension payments next year, part of a wide-ranging effort to trim billions of euros from the budget and get the deficit below 5 percent of gross domestic product. The debate in France echoes similar conversations in Germany, where Winkel is among a group of young conservatives who rebelled against a pension reform package put forth by Merz’s government, saying current benefits for older people are too generous and asking for a plan that is “fair to all generations.”   A group of leading economists argued in an op-ed in German newspaper Handelsblatt that Merz’s proposed pension package would be “to the detriment of the younger generation, who are already under increasing financial pressure.”   The leaders of Germany’s coalition set out to resolve the dispute last week, with Merz vowing to take on a second, more far-reaching set of pension reforms as early as next year.   Winkel is among a group of young conservatives who rebelled against a pension reform package put forth by Merz’s government, saying current benefits for older people are too generous and asking for a plan that is “fair to all generations.”  | Photo by Nadja Wohlleben/Getty Images But it’s unclear whether that proposal has appeased all young conservatives. In a letter this week, the group said its 18 lawmakers would decide individually how they will vote on the immediate pension package, which is set to go for a vote on Friday. Every vote will matter, as Merz’s fragile coalition has a majority of only 12 parliamentarians. On Tuesday, Merz’s center-right bloc held a test vote to see if there was enough conservative support to pass the pension reform package. The results of the internal vote were unclear. Opinion surveys in Germany and France show that much of the public favors protecting existing pension systems and benefits. Leftist parties in both countries have also strongly pushed back against measures that would freeze or lower pension benefits, arguing that the public pension system is a core element of social cohesion. But intergenerational cracks are emerging.  “Measures on pensions show a generational cleavage: They are massively rejected by pensioners but supported by nearly one out of two in the younger generation (18-24),” according to an analysis from French pollster Elabe published in October.  In another poll from Odoxa, a small majority of working-age people in France agreed that current pensioners are “better off because they were able to leave earlier than those still working.” KEY DIFFERENCES There are key differences between France and Germany, however. Pension benefits in France are far more generous than in Germany, and help keep the poverty rate among people aged 65 and above lower than that of the general population.  The opposite is true in Germany, where the over-65 population is worse off than those younger than 65, in part because public pensions became comparatively lower after pension reforms passed in the 2000s.  Ultimately, however, demographics and economics vary so much from one generation to another that it’s almost impossible to make a pension system “fair,” according to Arnaud Lechevalier, an economist at the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. The idea that each generation can have the same return on investment on their working-aged contributions is, in Lechevalier’s words, “a deeply stupid idea.”