Hubertus Heil, Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and Eva Quante-Brandt, Minister of Science, Health and Consumer ProtectionHubertus Heil, Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and Eva Quante-Brandt, Minister of Science, Health and Consumer Protection
Recent Law-Making and the Situation of Social Policy Research subjects of the talk

The Federal Secretary of Labour and Social Affairs, Hubertus Heil, visited today SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy. Together with the Minister of Science, Health and Consumer Protection of the State of Bremen, Eva Quante-Brandt, the Federal Minister discussed questions of the situation of social policy research, the possibility of an improved secondary education in social policy affairs as well as issues of recent policy-making, especially the introduction of a basic pension system, with scientists of SOCIUM. Minister Eva Quante-Brandt underlined: “I am happy to see Minister Heil visiting SOCIUM which is one of Bremen’s excellent research facilities. Social sciences are part of the research focuses of Bremen – especially research on inequality and social policy. In these areas we discuss the most imminent questions of our times: What are the causes of inequality? How can we regulate the life-long careers of workers in order to guarantee them a sufficient pension? It’s about the social integration of our society.”

In the discussion it became obvious that low pensions and increasing poverty of elder people develop into a pressing problem which questions the legitimacy of the whole public pension system. Federal Minister Hubertus Heil stated that his ministry already supports the “Fördernetzwerk interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung (FIS)”. Additional measures will follow. “The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs is dependent on research on social policy beyond the daily political questions in order to discover and solve political problems at a very early stage. Social policy research helps society to discuss the future of the welfare state. I am happy to see that SOCIUM is offering important impulses for these debates and that it participates in the “Fördernetzwerk”.


Contact:
Prof. Dr. Frank Nullmeier