- The National Council returns the initiative of the Young Liberals with 92 votes to 93 and one abstention to the commission, which is to draw up an indirect counter-proposal. This should contain a debt brake for the AHV.
- The National Council has not yet decided on the initiative itself.
Anyone who followed the debate in the National Council had to come to the conclusion that working longer would be one thing. But working longer in today’s real working world is something different. Because the initiative misjudges the reality that even over 55-year-olds have trouble on the job market, despite the much-discussed shortage of skilled workers. Most of the speakers reject the “pension initiative”. She is “antisocial”, “insensitive” and “arbitrary”.
Anti-social (according to several speakers) because there are big differences in life expectancy: Life expectancy differs depending on the canton, gender and, above all, socio-economic status and occupational risks. If you have a low life expectancy, you would lose retirement years if you accepted the initiative because you would not live as long and would have to work longer.
As an example: Unmarried women have a longer life expectancy than married ones, said Felix Wettstein, Grüner from the canton of Solothurn. Is that why they should work longer?
“No chance in front of the people”
Insensitive, because the retirement age for women was only raised last autumn: According to many speakers, this vote came out very close, and it was not opportune to discuss raising the retirement age again. After all, the reform has not yet been implemented. You have to gain experience first.
A good compromise was reached last year with the AHV 21, said Lilian Studer, EPP National Councilor from Aargau, for example. She therefore suggested that the initiators withdraw the initiative. She would have no chance in front of the people anyway, predicted Studer.
It is arbitrary because the Federal Council had already received the order by December to present proposals for stabilizing AHV finances. It was not appropriate to anticipate this, according to several speakers.
“All men on the board”
The Zug Greens Manuela Weichelt could not resist taking a dig at the initiators, the Young Liberals. “On the board of the Young Liberals are all men. Go to the website!” says Weichelt. Even the last AHV reform was carried out at the expense of women.
The Freisinn bravely campaigned for the proposal. Christian Wasserfallen (FDP/BE) said that it was not a question of whether one had to act with regard to financing AHV, because one had to act. “Many 20-year-olds ask themselves whether they will even receive a pension from the 1st pillar.”
However, his follower, Felix Wettstein, Greens/SO, described this as “scaremongering”: It is not the case that the financial forecasts for the AHV can only be based on the number of workers. “The decisive factor is the total wage bill,” says Wettstein. Well-paid jobs are increasing in Switzerland.