The tortuous reform of Germany's pension system was voted through the lower house of parliament yesterday, ending 18 months of wrangling.
The reform will see the state pension system supplemented with private schemes which the government hopes will go some way towards dealing with problems caused by the dramatic ageing of Germany's population.
"This is the greatest social reform that has been undertaken in the post-war period," said the Labour Minister, Mr Walter Riester, during yesterday's debate.
The reform, which comes a day after hundreds of thousands of French citizens marched to defend their right to retire at 60, means that by 2030 a typical state pension in Germany will comprise 67 per cent of final wages instead of the current 70 per cent.
It also establishes a limit for the contributions to the state pensions scheme of 20 per cent until 2020, and no more than 22 per cent after that.
The opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) voted against the package, calling it "pension fraud". Earlier this week the party launched a poster campaign criticising the reform plans bearing a mock-up mugshot of the Chancellor.
This last-gasp attempt by the opposition to interest the public in the debate caused so much offence, however, that all posters were immediately withdrawn.
Because of CDU opposition, the pension reform was split into two packages, only one of which requires to pass the upper house, the Bundesrat, where the government does not have a majority. However, it is likely that the proposals will receive upper house approval with only minor changes. The reform is scheduled to become law by April.
The pension reform has been a long-runner, even by German political standards. Even the usually weighty Die Zeit newspaper threw up its hands in despair last Thursday.
"Who can actually claim to understand the pension reform, aside from [Labour Minister] Riester, and even he would be exaggerating?" it asked in a front-page article.
