Comments Spark Debate on Fairness Between Generations

Never before has a 23 year-old caused such a commotion in German politics. Germany's social system is "not responsible for making every senior citizen fit for a pensioner's adventure holiday," said Philipp Missfelder, head of the conservative opposition’s youth outfit the Junge Union.

The up-and-coming politician told the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel earlier this week that senior citizens over the age of 85 should no longer receive hip implantations at the cost of the national health system. After all, people used to just walk on crutches in this case, he said. Dental prostheses should also be limited.

Missfelder criticized that politicians from all parties had allowed the principle of solidarity between generations to become a "betrayal," saying Germany's social system favored the elderly at the expense of the younger generation. Such comments have hit home in a nation with a shrinking population and underfunded health care and pensions.

Strong reactions

But Missfelder's statements have also been met with outraged reactions from politicians of all stripes. Social Democrat and Family Minister Renate Schmidt labelled it "inhumane polemics” and added that his comments could not be excused by his young age, either.

Schmidt told German public television that such talk could lead to a debate "in which we discuss the value of life." She said this could not be allowed to happen, but admitted that more allowances needed to be made for the interests of children and young people than had been the case in the past years. However, better chances for the younger generation could not be achieved at the expense of senior citizens, Schmidt said.

“We [can’t) deny older people the right to claim life prolonging measures or tell them: You can just walk on crutches," she said.

Missfelder also received criticism from his own ranks. Manfred Weber, head of the Junge Union in Bavaria, said it was alright to provoke and generate attention. Missfelder's statements, though, were "complete rubbish," he told the newspaper Münchner Merkur.

The Christian Democrats' General Secretary Laurenz Meyer said he could not understand Missfelder's comments. But he added that the fears of young people were justified that politics had insufficiently made allowances for the country's demographic development.

Germany does indeed face a serious demographic problem. According to the Federal Office of Statistics, the proportion of young to old will shift significantly in the next decades. Latest figures show that in the year 2050, the proportion of people over 60 will increase from currently one-quarter to one-third. The percentage of senior citizens over 80 is expected to triple to 12 percent of the population by then.

No war, but debate

Missfelder said he did not intend to provoke a war between generations. He reassured the country's pensioners that he did not want to take anything away from them. Rather, he was referring to the health system in 20 or 30 years. However, the mentality had to shift from one of "comprehensive cover" to that of "personal liability," he said.

According to Missfelder, his understanding of society was that the strong support the weak. But this assumed that there still had to be a strong counterpart in the future. It was not fair that just one specific generation be particularly burdened.

Despite the strong criticism, Missfelder said he would not take back his remarks. He said as head of the Junge Union, he needed to represent his generation and saw it as his concern to keep the debate about generational fairness alive.

“No pensioner needs to fear my comments,” he told German ZDF television on Thursday.