The Federal Council will deal with several decisions of the Federal Government on Friday. He had already given the green light for the Bundeswehr special fund. Now the minimum wage increase takes the last hurdle.
Millions of workers in Germany will receive higher wages from October 1st. On Friday in Berlin, the Federal Council approved the increase in the statutory minimum wage to 12 euros per hour from October 1st. With the Chamber of States refraining from appealing to the Mediation Committee, the increase in the minimum wage limit cleared the last hurdle in legislation.
The gross minimum wage is currently EUR 9.82. On July 1, it will rise to EUR 10.45 per hour, and then on October 1 to EUR 12 per hour. At the same time, the limit for mini-jobs in October will rise from 450 to 520 euros per month.
The Bundestag had passed the bill by Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) a week earlier. The draft law assumes that there are currently around 6.2 million employees with an hourly wage of less than 12 euros. Later, the Minimum Wage Commission made up of employers and employees will again be responsible for setting the lower wage limit. The next adjustment is scheduled for January 1, 2024.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had made raising the lower wage limit a core promise of the federal election campaign. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) said in the Bundesrat that wages should be so high that you can live with them sensibly and ultimately get an adequate pension. In addition, the goal must also be that more employees receive a collective wage.
The Bundesrat has finally cleared the way for billions to be invested in the Bundeswehr. The state chamber voted with a two-thirds majority for an amendment to the Basic Law, just as the Bundestag did a week ago.
The billion-euro program to upgrade the Bundeswehr can start. After the Bundestag, the Bundesrat also decided on the necessary amendment to the Basic Law on Friday. This allows loans of 100 billion euros to be taken out, bypassing the debt brake, in order to better equip the armed forces.
A new Article 87a is included in the Basic Law. It regulates that loans of 100 billion euros for a special fund can be taken out for the Bundeswehr without the debt brake. The money will be used to buy new planes, helicopters, ships, tanks and ammunition in the coming years. But it is also about equipment such as night vision devices and radios.
The German government is reacting to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Years of savings in the Bundeswehr and its focus on foreign missions have led to the fact that the troops today have significant deficits in national and alliance defense. Tanks, planes and ships are partly outdated or not ready for use. This is also painfully evident when it comes to the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. According to the official statement, the Bundeswehr has hardly anything that it can do without and which it can relinquish.
