Elements of Generational Solidarity in the German Pension System

The article focuses on the legal aspects of intergenerational solidarity in the German statutory pension system. Organised on a pay-as-you-go basis, it relies on a balance of those obliged to pay contributions vs. those who receive benefits. The footing of this system, however, becomes fragile in times of rising life expectancy and declining birth rates: fewer employees will have to finance the pension rights of a growing number of pensioners. These developments do not only lead to lower acceptance of the “intergenerational contract” by the economically active who have to invest a large share of their income in the financing of current pensions while facing the risk of receiving low payments in the future. It also raises questions of intergenerational justice

The Europeanization of Welfare - The Domestic Impact of Intra-European Social Security

Studies of Europeanization have demonstrated that the impact of European integration differs between Member States and across policies. Although Europeanization research has been expanded and clarified in recent years, we still know relatively little about the factors mediating the national processes of change that thus condition impact. This article examines the impact of European social security integration on national welfare institutions in Denmark and Germany, and it traces the Europeanization process, which may explain the diverging impact of a common input in these two Member States. In order to understand how the same process of integration may cause a diverging impact on national institutions, two sets of mediating factors are examined: firstly, the institutional and "de facto" exposedness to European integration; and, secondly, the national political, administrative and legal responses to integration. It is argued that these intervening variables are decisive for how common European demands are mediated nationally and are likely to explain impact variations referring to the same cause. Copyright 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.