Tyrol Governor Anton Mattle has called for a sweeping overhaul of Austria's pension system, proposing that retirement be permitted no earlier than age 65 and only after a minimum of 45 working years, with parental care time counted toward that threshold.
The push comes as a survey of 1,005 people in Germany found 68 percent oppose abolishing the penalty-free retirement option after 45 contribution years, while 77 percent expressed dissatisfaction with the federal government's pension policy. Union leaders pushed back strongly: Verdi chief Frank Werneke called the proposal wrong, IG Metall head Christiane Benner defended the 45-year rule as fair, and DGB board member Anja Piel said long-serving workers deserve deductions-free retirement.
Conservative lawmaker Gitta Connemann countered that the pension package was a hard-won compromise, "not a buffet."