Duke Commission
In 2003, the committee that became known as the Herzog Commission , under the leadership of former Federal President Roman Herzog , drew up a document with proposals for reforming the German social security system, which became the basis of a CDU program.
Attendees
- Peter Albrecht from the University of Mannheim
- Hermann-Josef Arentz , then chairman of the CDA
- Maria Böhmer , then chairwoman of the women's union in the CDU
- Reinhard Göhner (CDU) as the employer representative
- Paul Kirchhof from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
- Karl-Josef Laumann , meanwhile Chairman of the CDA and from 2005 to 2010 and since 2017 Minister for Labor, Health and Social Affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Silke Lautenschläger (CDU), then (2001 to 2005) Minister for Social Affairs in Hesse , then (until 2009) Science Minister and from 2009 to 2010 Environment Minister in Hesse
- Friedrich Merz , at that time deputy chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group
- Laurenz Meyer , then General Secretary of the CDU
- Georg Milbradt (CDU), then Prime Minister of the Free State of Saxony
- Hildegard Müller (CDU)
- Herbert Rische , President of what was then the Federal Insurance Institution for Salaried Employees
- Horst Seehofer (CSU), meanwhile Federal Minister of the Interior
- Norman van Scherpenberg , Secretary of State a. D.
- Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), then Minister for Social Affairs in Lower Saxony
- Jürgen Wasem , from the University of Duisburg-Essen
and more.
Political importance
Prepared on behalf of Angela Merkel , the report of the commission deals with the topics of unemployment insurance , statutory pension insurance , health insurance and long-term care insurance against the background of demographic change in Germany. A number of new approaches were included in the report, for example the decoupling of ancillary wage costs from expenditure in the health sector, funding in long-term care insurance and the gradual increase in the statutory retirement age . The economic effects of the proposals were modeled by a team of consultants from McKinsey . On September 30, 2003, the report was presented at the federal press conference in Berlin where there was particular media interest . It was, so to speak, the counterpart of the opposition to the report of the Rürup Commission , which had met on behalf of the federal government by Gerhard Schröder . Exactly two months after its publication, the report at the CDU federal party conference in Leipzig became the basis of an election program. Observers commented that with this step Angela Merkel would have taken over the leadership of the CDU in terms of content. However, the early departure of Horst Seehofer from the commission was a sign of the disputes that were to take place between the CDU and the CSU over the reform of health policy. In health policy, the coalition agreement between the CDU, CSU and FDP of October 2009 resumed the Herzog Commission's request for an income-independent flat-rate premium.