German Parliament to Vote on Key Pension Bill

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Transcript

00:00What is at stake then, Oli, for the German Chancellor today?

00:03I think once again his authority is at stake, which is something we've seen really from the very beginning of his chancellorship.

00:09He's not somebody that was beloved really by really anybody in the German sort of political arena, even within the CDU.

00:15And there's this pension vote that's going before the Bundestag today in which there is a rebellion,

00:19not just from the broader parts of his coalition, but actually within a fragment of his own CDU, the youth wing,

00:25where there are about 18 votes. They have a majority in the parliament of only 12 votes.

00:30So theoretically, if the CDU, this part of the youth movement basically were to vote against it, he could lose this vote.

00:36That being said, he's actually getting an unlikely ally in the far left, Die Linke, that is basically going to abstain from the vote,

00:43therefore taking out those lawmakers from the pool. Thus likely this will pass.

00:48But once again, Tom, this is very reminiscent of basically even the first day of his chancellorship.

00:54Well, you'll remember there was supposed to be a procedural kind of rubber stamp vote in the Bundestag

00:58that brings in the next chancellor. And for the first time in modern German history, that failed

01:03because he could not garner the votes of his own coalition to make him chancellor.

01:07So again, once again, this is sort of Frederick Mertz dealing with a sort of authority problem within his own government

01:13at a time when, again, the economy continues to contract, continues to stagnate.

01:17We've had years of that happening. We have potentially 1% growth into next year.

01:21But that we've seen that movie before, Tom, where we expect a little bit of growth next year,

01:25then revision after revision down back to zero. And those are the odds that are facing Frederick Mertz.

01:30And we should say that consistently since he took over, the AFD is now polling above the CDU.