Lars Klingbeil calls for a minimum wage of 14 euros

Berlin. After Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil is also calling for a significant increase in the minimum wage. When the minimum wage committee meets again next spring, he expects a proposal that could amount to as little as 14 euros according to all calculation methods, Klingbeil said on Wednesday evening in the ARD program “Maischberger”. He does not fundamentally question the Minimum Wage Commission, but the political message is clear: “If the employers there are playing political games again, then this must also be discussed politically,” said the SPD leader.

The minimum wage rose by 41 cents to 12.41 euros at the beginning of 2024. It is expected to rise by a further 41 cents by the start of 2025, in line with the determination of the Minimum Wage Commission of Employers and Trade Unions last year. Klingbeil criticized this as inappropriate given the price increase. He referred to the procedure at the Commission, in which representatives of employers and employees jointly make a proposal on the level of the minimum wage. “It broke the side of the employers,” said the SPD leader. That is why it is correct that the Chancellor says that there should be significantly more. Scholz had spoken out in favor of an increase in the minimum wage, initially to 14 euros and then to 15 euros.

Mandatory service for the Bundeswehr ‘difficult’

Furthermore, Klingbeil was reserved on the show about a possible reintroduction of the Conscription said: “I believe it is not right to coerce 800,000 young people per year.”

He advocated creating incentives for volunteers, for example when studying, following a training course or obtaining a driver’s license. When military conscription was suspended, no thought was given to how to recruit volunteers, leaving a mess. Every young person should seriously consider at least once in their lives whether they are willing to do a service for their country, Klingbeil said. This could be a voluntary social or ecological year or service in the Bundeswehr. “But coercion for 800,000 young people – that is difficult,” the SPD leader emphasized.

The Bundeswehr must be expanded from the current 182,000 to 203,000 soldiers by 2031. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) is considering the reactivation of military conscription. to address staff shortages. In 2011, conscription was suspended under CSU Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. The CDU decided at its party conference last week that it wanted to reverse the decision “gradually”.

RND/dpa