Germany news: Merz hails pension reform proposals

Skip next section Three bodies retrieved from Rhine after missing reports June 23, 2026

Three bodies retrieved from Rhine after missing reports

The bodies of three men have been recovered from the Rhine River near the southwestern town of Biblis after they were previously reported missing, police said on Tuesday.

The men aged 23, 27 and 50 were found dead on Monday morning, police said in a statement.

They said there was no evidence of third-party involvement.

The family of the 50-year-old had reported him as missing on Saturday evening after he did not return 2 1/2 hours after he had left to go swimming.

While police were carrying out a search by boat and helicopter, passersby alerted them to the case of the two other men who had gone underwater near a boat ramp.

Neither of them knew how to swim.

Swimming in the Rhine River is considered extremely dangerous because of its strong underwater currents.

The major riverside cities of Düsseldorf and Cologne banned swimming last year following a spate of drownings.

https://p.dw.com/p/5FuAC

Skip next section Police search homes of suspected 'Islamic State' members June 23, 2026

Police search homes of suspected 'Islamic State' members

German police have carried out searches at the homes of five people suspected of being members of the so-called"Islamic State" (IS)militant group, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The raids were conducted in the southwestern town of Filderstadt, in Potsdam, just outside the capital, Berlin and in the Limburg-Weilburg region in central Germany, they said.

No arrests were made.

Further raids were carried out at premises linked to 11 people who are not considered suspects.

The IS group is designated as a terrorist organization globally by major international bodies and multiple countries.

https://p.dw.com/p/5Fu56

Skip next section Summer holidays unaffordable for one in five — Destatis June 23, 2026

Summer holidays unaffordable for one in five — Destatis

Going on even a one-week holiday in summer is something that 21% of the population in Germany — 17.3 million people — cannot afford, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

That figure rises to 39% among single parents, it said.

The statistic compares to 28% across the entire European Union, according to the European statistics office Eurostat.

The highest percentage of a European country's population unable to take a one-week holiday is in Romania, at 61%.

The proportion is smallest in Luxembourg (11%), Sweden (12%) and the Netherlands (13%).

https://p.dw.com/p/5FthL

Skip next section Almost half of teachers stressed by pupils' behavior — School Barometer June 23, 2026

Almost half of teachers stressed by pupils' behavior — School Barometer

Almost every second teacher in Germany (46%) considers that pupils' behavior is the biggest source of stress in the profession, according to a School Barometer survey issued on Tuesday.

That is an increase of more than 10 percentage points over 2024, when just 35% of teachers said pupils' conduct was their main challenge.

According to the survey carried out for the Robert Bosch Foundation, it is not just a lack of discipline that causes problems for teachers.

The teachers who responded to the survey said that a quarter of pupils had trouble working in a group, while 13% found it difficult to motivate themselves to learn.

Many teachers said that they were having to teach pupils more than just specialized knowledge, saying that empathy, self-organization and critical thinking also needed cultivating among pupils.

Four out of five teachers (82%) said they would like to receive extra training in these fields.

Almost every second respondent said more had to be done to educate pupils about democracy, with a similar number wanting more training in the use of artificial intelligence.

However, 83% ranked their job satisfaction as high. More than every fourth teacher said, however, that they would give up the job if there was an acceptable alternative.

A School Barometer survey of pupils published last week showed that every fourth pupil in Germany felt they had a poor quality of life, while around the same proportion displayed psychological difficulties.

https://p.dw.com/p/5Fspu

Skip next section June heat record could be broken Friday — DWD June 23, 2026

June heat record could be broken Friday — DWD

Temperatures in some parts of Germany could reach 40 C (104 F) on Friday, breaking the previous June record, a spokeswoman for the German Weather Service (DWD) has told the German DPA news agency.

This was most likely to happen in the west and southwest of the country, she said.

The previous record for June was set on June 30, 2019, in the town of Bernburg in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, with 39.6 C.

The record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Germany was hit just some four weeks later, with 41.2 C registered in the western cities of Tönisvorst and Duisburg.

Temperatures of just above 30 C are forecast for most of Germany on Tuesday, with extreme heat returning on Wednesday and remaining for the rest of the week.

Fire danger is also increasing across the country, with large parts of the south forecast to be at level 4-5 (high danger) by Thursday, while parts of the state of Brandenburg will be at level 5 (very high danger).

Climate scientists say such heat waves will become more common as the Earth continues to warm, largely as a result of the use of fossil fuels by humans.

https://p.dw.com/p/5Ft2W

Skip next section Merz pushes for full implementation of pension reform package June 23, 2026

Merz pushes for full implementation of pension reform package

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that 33 reform proposals made by a special pensions commission formed a unified whole that must be implemented in its entirety.

"All the elements of this reform package must now be implemented quickly," he said on Tuesday after the commission handed in its report.

He said it would not suffice to simply adopt certain elements and reject others, as they were interlinked and balanced each other out.

The proposals "form an overall concept that only functions in its entirety," he said.

"Pensions remain secured, and the burden is fairly spread over all social groups and all generations," he said.

What are some of the commission's proposals?

This would mean employees and employers should pay a shared additional sum of up to 2 percentage points on top of current pension contributions for investment in the capital market

The retirement age should gradually rise to over 67 in the next decades in keeping with the rise in life expectancy

The self-employed and politicians should also pay into the system, but not civil servants and public officials (Beamten)

The earliest retirement age should be raised to 64

Early retirement on full pension for people who have worked at least 45 years should be abolished

https://p.dw.com/p/5FtE1

Skip next section Welcome to our coverage June 23, 2026

Welcome to our coverage

The DW newsroom in Bonn wishes all readers a literally warm guten Tag as a midsummer heat wave continues to grip Germany along with much of Europe.

Some schools have decided to let their pupils go home early as the thermometer rises.

But another measuring device, the School Barometer, is also in focus on Tuesday, with teachers asked about their views on the situation at schools today.

The issue of pensions, which has long plagued the coalition government, is also at the fore, after a commission presented a list of more than 30 proposals to reform the system.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for their full implementation, saying they distribute the burden fairly across the generations.

We will also be looking at the visit to Berlin by Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, whose country is going through a period of political turbulence.

And the famous Michelin guide is to give its star ratings to what it considers to be the best German restaurants at an event in the evening.

Read on for more headlines from Europe's biggest economy on Tuesday, June 23.

https://p.dw.com/p/5FsiL

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