Merz Averts Crisis With Approval for German Pension Bill

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling coalition secured parliamentary approval for its contentious pension bill, avoiding a damaging setback that could have triggered the collapse of the government after only seven months in power.

A group of about 18 younger lawmakers from Merz’s own conservative caucus had threatened to oppose the law, imperiling the coalition’s relatively slim majority of 12 in the Bundestag lower house. The chancellor’s CDU/CSU bloc and his Social Democrat partners ultimately mustered 318 votes in favor in a ballot on Friday, narrowly exceeding the majority of 316 seats out of 630 but well short of the total of 328 they hold in the lower house.