Prof. Dr Silke Übelmesser appointed to the Federal Government's Pension Commission

The financial scientist Prof. Dr Silke Übelmesser from Friedrich Schiller University Jena will be a member of the German government's new Pension Commission. The committee is tasked with developing proposals for a comprehensive reform of the pension system in Germany by mid-2026. With this appointment, the Federal Cabinet is recognizing Übelmesser's proven expertise in financial and social policy.

Scientific expertise from Jena for key social issue of the future

Today (17 December), the Federal Government appointed a high-level commission to develop proposals for a fundamental restructuring of the pension system. Among the 12 members of the commission is Prof. Dr Silke Übelmesser, Professor of Public Finance at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. The appointment of the non-partisan academic was made at the suggestion of the CDU/CSU.

The Pension Commission is to work independently of party political guidelines and bring together different scientific perspectives. The aim is to develop viable and generationally equitable concepts for securing the pension system in the long term. The results are expected to be available by mid-2026.

»The reform of pension provision is one of the key tasks facing society in the coming years. Prof. Übelmesser's outstanding scientific expertise in this field makes her particularly qualified to serve on this important committee. Her appointment also highlights the scientific prowess of the University of Jena«, says Andreas Marx, President of Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

About the person

Silke Übelmesser has been Professor of Economics with a focus on public finance at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and a research professor at the ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich since 2012. She has also been a member of the Stability Council's independent Advisory Board since 2018.

Silke Übelmesser studied economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and at the Université Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). She completed her doctorate at the Ludwig Maximilian University in 2003 with a doctoral thesis on »Unfunded Pension Systems: Ageing and Migration« and also completed her  postdoctoral thesis to qualify as a professor there in 2010.

In her research, Silke Übelmesser focuses in particular on issues of public finances and social security systems in the context of demographic change and intergenerational distributional effects. Her work covers topics such as government debt, the financial sustainability of pension provision, gender-specific issues and other aspects of economic policy.