Minister of Labor Heil accuses public service of refusal

Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) has accused public broadcasting of reporting too little about the forthcoming social elections in Germany.

Heil said on Friday at an event organized by the German pension insurance in Berlin that it bothered him "that the public service broadcaster in Germany refuses to report on it or to broadcast advertising for social elections". That doesn't work at all. "That is also beyond all reason, because it is a piece of constitutive democracy."

He will try "to bend that over to them," Heil announced before a federal representative meeting that arose from a social election. "I'm a big fan of public service broadcasting, but with the debates they're having right now, maybe they should focus on the essentials."

The Federal Representatives' Assembly is a self-governing body in retirement. According to the law, the composition of such bodies in health, pension and accident insurance is decided during the social security elections. The next election day is May 31, 2023.

Voter turnout in social elections is traditionally low. In the most recent social election in 2017, it was around a third. In principle, the social election is a postal vote. From 2023, votes should also be allowed to be cast online.

In concrete terms, members of the administrative boards of the statutory health insurance funds and of the representative meetings of the statutory accident and pension insurance funds are determined during the social elections. These bodies are made up of representatives of the insured and employers. They decide, for example, which rehabilitation measures are covered by the pension fund and how high the salaries of health insurance board members are.

Eligible voters who have not received their voting documents by May 11th before the next social elections should, according to the applicable regulations, submit an application for the issue and transmission of the voting documents by May 19th at the latest.

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