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The Chancellor is in favour – the Left is up in arms. The proposed recommendations on pension reform have divided opinion. A drug and banknote detection dog has escaped from the police in Saxony. The search for the animal is underway. And: the highest Saxon honour has also been awarded to two Leipzig residents. The LZ summarises the key events in Leipzig and beyond on Tuesday, 23 June 2026.
The Pension Commission recommends
The Pension Commission has presented the federal government with 33 recommendations for a comprehensive reform of the pension system. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) announced that the package would be implemented in full. According to the proposals, the state pension age is set to rise beyond 67 in the coming decades and be linked to changes in life expectancy. At the same time, pensions are to grow more slowly than wages in future, without any cuts being made.
Plans also include the abolition of early retirement without a reduction in benefits after 45 years of contributions, as well as the introduction of a compulsory capital pension. To fund this, the pension contribution – shared between employees and employers – would rise in addition to the expected increases. Furthermore, the group of contributors is to be expanded to include, amongst others, members of parliament and the self-employed. In the long term, the Commission also recommends including civil servants. Federal Minister for Labour Bärbel Bas expressed confidence that a majority could be secured for this in the Bundestag.
The proposals drew harsh criticism from The Left: “The pension recommendations are one thing above all else: excessive cuts,” railed Sören Pellmann, a Leipzig city councillor and Member of the Bundestag. “If implemented, they will fit seamlessly into this government’s record of social cruelty. Instead of tackling poverty in old age, workers are expected to work even longer. Billions in pension contributions are being channelled into the financial markets. The fact that even those who have already worked for 45 years can no longer retire slightly earlier without a reduction in their pension shows that there is no respect for people’s lifetime achievements.”
Saxon police dog on the run
The dog is missing. The four-year-old Malinois, trained primarily as a drug and banknote detection dog, ran away on Monday from a property in the Reichenbach district of Großschirma. The police are now searching for the black-and-brown sheepdog in the area between Rossau and Großschirma. I wonder if he’s on the trail of something big?
So far, the police have received reports that a stray dog has been spotted in the Schmalbach district of Striegistal and in the area around the A4 motorway between Berbersdorf and Hainichen. It is assumed that he is currently wandering around, disoriented.
The animal is not considered aggressive and tends to be shy and reserved towards strangers. Nevertheless, people should refrain from attempting to catch the service dog themselves or cornering him unnecessarily. Instead, any sightings should be reported via the police emergency number 110.
Two Leipzig residents receive Order of Merit
At Albrechtsburg Castle in Meissen, Minister-President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) honoured a total of 13 individuals with close ties to Saxony with the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony. These individuals have shown outstanding commitment in the political, economic, cultural, social, community or voluntary sectors.
The most prominent name on the list is arguably that of singer, television presenter and musical theatre actress Stefanie Hertel. The 46-year-old has, above all, enhanced the reputation of the Saxon Vogtland in the cultural and artistic spheres and is regarded as an outstanding ambassador for the region. Through her charity ‘Stefanie Hertel hilft e. V.’, she is actively involved in animal welfare and champions the interests of children as well as the fight against abuse.
Two residents of Leipzig were also awarded the Free State’s highest honour. Gudrun Matschenz, for example, has rendered outstanding service over more than thirty years as a founding member, supporter and chair of the Betreuungsverein Landkreis Leipzig e. V., as well as a long-standing honorary judge at the State Social Court in Chemnitz. Her support for sick and disabled people in social need is particularly noteworthy. In addition, the 67-year-old has also helped shape the regional cultural landscape, for example through the restoration of the Rittergutskirche in Kleinliebenau and the commemoration of Ruth Pfau, who established the nationwide network for the fight against leprosy and tuberculosis in Pakistan.
Gerald Riedel, a retired master electrician, has devoted himself to preserving the region’s lignite mining history for more than 30 years. Following the excavation of his home village of Magdeborn, he organised meetings for displaced residents and, in 2008, founded the Magdeborner Heimatfreunde e. V. association to document the village’s history. Since 2002, he has also been a founding member and honorary chairman of the ‘Bergbau-Technik-Park e. V. Großpösna’ association. Devoting a considerable amount of his time, the 76-year-old contributes his technical expertise to the open-air museum’s infrastructure and, as a contemporary witness, shares Saxony’s industrial heritage with visitors.
What the LZ reported on today:
What next in the trial against Gero Strauß? Now it’s up to the psychiatrist to decide
A fear of water despite the sweltering heat: this zebra stallion is a real sandman
Hello Leipzig: Here’s how Tuesday, 23 June 2026 begins
The tender souls …: The Leipzig Literaturhaus celebrated its anniversary and rebirth
How our brain organises thought and emotion: A fascinating journey through the world of our self
What else was important:
Exactly ten years to the day, the British voted by a narrow majority to leave the European Union. This withdrawal was then effectively finalised at the start of 2020. “All in all, Brexit has left only losers in its wake,” Tagesschau.de quotes Bertram Brossardt, Chief Executive of the Bavarian Industry Association (vbw), as saying.
Investigations by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office into suspected members of the terrorist organisation “Islamic State” (IS) led today to searches of the homes of five suspects in Potsdam, Filderstadt and the district of Limburg-Weilburg. However, no arrests were made.
The proportion of degree programmes with restricted admission due to a numerus clausus (NC) is falling. Whilst this figure stood at over 40 per cent six years ago, it will be just 31.6 per cent in the coming winter semester. For bachelor’s degree programmes, the figure is particularly low at just 28.7 per cent.
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