German Coalition Risks Conflict Over Contentious Minimum Wage

An independent commission agreed Germany’s statutory minimum wage should be increased in two steps to €14.60 ($17.11) in 2027, in a move that could stoke discord in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling coalition.

In their blueprint for government, Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc and his Social Democrat partners agreed that a minimum wage of €15 an hour was achievable already next year — a key SPD demand.