Europe | Germany’s pension reform

Go private, says the state

By 2008, Germany’s state pension scheme will look very different

|berlin

DESPITE continuing resistance from the opposition Christian Democrats, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's pension-reform plans, the most radical in Germany for nearly half a century, are expected to clear their final parliamentary hurdle on May 11th. Last-minute government concessions on child benefit, widows' pensions and home ownership now look certain to ensure the bill's approval in the opposition-dominated Bundesrat, the second chamber, which speaks for Germany's 16 state governments.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Go private, says the state”

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