Motion on Employee Participation Cooperatives in the Bundestag
The parliamentary group Die Linke is advocating that employees should in future be able to take over their businesses collectively more easily. The basis is a motion with Bundestag printed paper number 21/8539 dated 13 October 2026. The related notice by the parliamentary information service hib was published on 14 October 2026 as hib 820/2026 in the area of law and consumer protection.
The motion is entitled “Companies in Workforce Ownership – Addressing the Succession Crisis in SMEs”. In it, the parliamentary group calls, among other things, for the employee participation cooperative to be enshrined as a special structure in the draft Genossenschaftsgesetz (Cooperative Societies Act). According to the applicants’ intention, this is to give employees the opportunity to take over a business jointly without having to contribute substantial equity capital themselves.
Financing through future corporate profits
According to the motion, the takeover is to be financed through loans. These loans are to be repaid from future corporate profits. Die Linke is thereby building on models in which the workforce does not have to raise the full purchase price immediately from its own funds.
As justification, the parliamentary group refers to difficulties faced by medium-sized companies in finding a successor. According to an estimate by the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung, cited by the Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Bundestages (Research Services of the Bundestag), around 186,000 companies across Germany are due to be transferred in the period from 2026 to 2030. According to information from the Bundesregierung (Federal Government) based on KfW figures, around 215,000 companies sought a business succession in 2024 and 2025.
Demands relating to tax law, funding and information rights
In addition to the statutory establishment of an employee participation cooperative, the parliamentary group is calling for tax relief for corresponding takeovers. Access to promotional loans is also to be improved.
The motion also addresses existing funding structures. Cooperatives are, in principle, eligible to apply under the ERP funding programmes. However, according to the applicants, the programmes are not tailored to financing a gradual takeover by a workforce.
Information and offer right for employees
According to the motion, employees are to receive an information and offer right if a business is to be closed or sold. Under the parliamentary group’s concept, this would involve the workforce at an early stage in a potential takeover situation.
The applicants also justify their proposal on the grounds that cooperative workforce takeovers are currently more complex financially and organisationally than takeovers in other corporate forms. In support of this, the parliamentary group relies, among other things, on a statement by the Institut für Unternehmensdemokratie e. V. entitled “Workforce takeovers against the succession crisis – take GenoESOP into account in the GenG amendment” on the government draft.
Connection with the government draft to strengthen cooperatives
The motion is directed immediately at the ongoing government draft “to strengthen the cooperative legal form” with printed paper number 21/8410. This government draft is dated 7 October 2026, is based on the coalition agreement for the 21st legislative term and follows on from legislative work undertaken during the 20th legislative term.
Die Linke criticises that the government draft neither creates a type of employee participation cooperative nor addresses known tax and financing-related obstacles. The demand to take the employee participation cooperative into account is therefore to be expressly implemented in the draft Genossenschaftsgesetz.
Content of the government draft
According to the parliamentary documents, the government draft provides, among other things, for several changes to cooperative law. These include in particular:
- a database of the cooperative auditing associations to be involved,
- an accelerated review of the promotional purpose by the Registergericht (registration court),
- a standard deadline for register entries,
- new rules on investing members,
- provisions on the suspension of management board activity in cases of maternity protection, parental leave, care responsibilities or illness.
In an earlier response by the Bundesregierung to a Kleine Anfrage (minor interpellation), it was also pointed out that, for cooperatives, Satzungsstrenge (strict adherence to statutory requirements in the articles) applies, in contrast to freedom of association articles. Accordingly, the articles of association of a cooperative may not deviate freely from the law.
Parliamentary deliberation and further motions
The motion by Die Linke was debated in the plenary session on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, together with the government draft to strengthen the cooperative legal form, in a 30-minute debate. It was subsequently referred to the lead Rechtsausschuss (Committee on Legal Affairs).
In the same debate, the Bundestag (German Federal Parliament) also addressed a motion by the AfD parliamentary group entitled “Establish citizen building cooperatives – making home ownership possible with low risk” and bearing printed paper number 21/8538. This motion was referred to the Ausschuss für Wohnen, Stadtentwicklung, Bauwesen und Kommunen (Committee on Housing, Urban Development, Building and Local Government).
Previous minor interpellation
The motion by Die Linke was preceded by a Kleine Anfrage by several Members of Parliament dated 15 July 2026, which was answered by the Bundesregierung on 6 August 2026. In this context, reference was also made to international models.
The questioners stated that the United Kingdom has provided tax incentives for Employee Ownership Trusts since 2014. According to their account, 20 percent of all company sales in the British private sector now involve corresponding EOT structures.
Tax classification and distinction from inheritance tax
The new motion by Die Linke expressly leaves unaffected an earlier demand by the parliamentary group concerning Erbschaftsteuer (German inheritance tax). This concerns the demand from motion 21/627 to abolish the relief rules for large business assets in inheritance tax.
The current initiative therefore remains limited to the changes described in the motion concerning workforce takeovers, funding and tax relief for such takeovers. According to the available documents, no further-reaching change to the stated inheritance tax position is made in this motion.
The signatories to the motion include Gregor Gysi, Bodo Ramelow, Christian Görke, Ferat Koçak and Sonja Lemke, among others.
Significance for companies and shareholder structures
The parliamentary initiative concerns issues at the intersection of business succession, corporate law, financing and tax treatment. For companies, investors and shareholders, the further development of the legislative process may be particularly relevant if succession processes, employee participation models or cooperative structures are being considered.
MTR Legal Rechtsanwälte advises clients on corporate law matters in national and international business transactions. If you have legal questions in connection with business succession, participation models and corporate law structures, you can find further information at Legal advice in corporate law.
