BERLIN, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The dispute regarding the sources of money used to make pensions for Germany's eastern and western states will be resolved rapidly, said the minister of social affairs on Sunday.
Andrea Nahles told a German TV program in the evening that she and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, from different governing coalition parties with different solutions, have talked over phone, and they will work to resolve the urgent problem soon.
Senior politicians from the coalition have agreed earlier the week on a timetable to gradually raise pensions in the eastern states to reach the level of those in the west by 2025.
The plan will cost a yearly 3.7 billion euros (3.92 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025, and it has been unclear as to how it would be financed.
Nahles from SPD was in favor of taxation means, while Schaeuble from CDU stood for funding from Germany's endowment insurance system.
