Lack of support for the pension initiative: Young liberals attack the center

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The next vote casts its shadow. An AHV showdown will take place at the ballot box on March 3, 2024. On this day, the people’s initiative of the trade unions for a 13th AHV pension will be voted on. And about the pension initiative of the Young Liberals, which reaches the people without a counter-proposal.

The young FDP party is calling for an increase in the retirement age for both sexes. By 2032, the retirement age would gradually increase from 65 to 66 years and then be linked to life expectancy: it should increase by 0.8 months for each additional month of life expectancy; up to 67, 68 or more years. Automatically.

Swiss people no longer want to work

Research shows that Mr and Mrs Schweizer have little desire to work longer. The referendum for the Young Liberals will therefore have a difficult time at the ballot box. However, Matthias Müller (31), chairman of the Young Liberals, does not want to be deterred by this.

“We’re going full throttle until the end. The numbers are on our side. And they show that we are entering a demographic storm with gigantic cost consequences,” he says. Above all, he takes sharp aim at the center, which does not support the pension initiative.

Müller criticizes that the center seems to have completely jettisoned its original concept and a central concern, namely the sustainable financing of the AHV. “The question is when a party ever saw what was at stake and now gives in to the necessary reforms and bury its head in the sand.”

“Center dancing to the left”

Müller is referring to an initiative by the Zug Center Council Peter Hegglin (63). In 2016, the Federal Council had already called for the introduction of an AHV reference age linked to average life expectancy. In essence, this is exactly what the Young Liberals are demanding today with their pension initiative.

For Müller it is clear: the center is trying to maintain a pseudo distance from the FDP, the civilian partner in so many important transactions. Instead of tackling the major problems of this country together, they put party politics above solution-oriented, factual politics. “This just shows: the center is completely disoriented. It dances – the longer, the more – to the left.”

Andri Silberschmidt (29), who fought in parliament for a counter-proposal against the pension initiative, says: “The fact that the cadres of the center party did not support the initiative probably had electoral reasons in the election year. This may also justify the rejection of a counter-proposal.”

However, Zurich’s National FDP Council does not believe the centrist base feels the same way – and hopes they will agree to the request. Because: “The demographic circumstances have changed. We also see this in the labor market,” says Silberschmidt. The pension initiative is therefore also an opportunity to address the enormous shortage of skilled workers. Ultimately, people would be available to companies for longer and would therefore have to be replaced less quickly by other skilled personnel.

“Good idea, wrong instrument”

Center councilor Peter Hegglin has little to gain from the criticism. To this day he hasn’t changed his mind. Hegglin still believes the thrust of the initiative is appropriate. “The idea is good, but the instrument is the wrong one,” he says. Because the initiative aims to write a mechanism into the constitution that is already outdated. “The adjustment of the retirement age for women to 65 has already been decided,” Hegglin explains. However, the initiative still emphasizes aligning the two retirement ages.

The second proposal, the people’s initiative for a 13th AHV pension, is currently well received by voters. Approval is especially high among retirees, women and Romans, as a survey by Sotomo shows.

Source:Blick