The Chancellery intends to hold to the government's reform course despite the coalition's poor poll ratings. "None of these are popular projects, but they are necessary," Chancellery Minister Nina Warken (CDU) said on Friday on ZDF's "Morgenmagazin". She acknowledged that reform plans on pensions and long-term care would "also lead to cuts for citizens". "That takes courage, and it does not necessarily make you popular – but that is not the point either; what matters is that action is taken now."
These "major reform packages" are indispensable and must now be adopted in the autumn, the minister continued. This will require patience, she said, because the effects of the reforms will not be felt immediately. "At first, not everything will necessarily be better on day one; it takes a while," Warken said.
At its cabinet retreat next week at Schloss Neuhardenberg in Brandenburg, the federal government wants to place the strengthening of the economy at the centre of its discussions, Warken announced. Guests from the business world have also been invited – among them the head of Siemens, the president of the skilled crafts association, and a young start-up entrepreneur. "The retreat is always an opportunity not only for more intensive internal discussion, but also to meet partners from a range of different fields," she said.
"We have to make sure that our country becomes more competitive again than it is now," the CDU politician said. This is "a major goal of the federal government", she added, and there are "a great many levers that we now have to pull". Warken cited non-wage labour costs, energy costs and the question of greater flexibility in working hours. In these areas, she said, there is "a great need for action".
Warken was sceptical about a proposal from coalition partner the SPD to include heat protection in the Basic Law as a joint federal-state task. "Quite honestly, simply producing a paper now and talking about amendments to the Basic Law does not help at all in practical terms on the ground for the time being," the minister said. There is already "a great deal of money that the federal government has made available, including through the special fund for infrastructure and climate protection", she said.
Within the federal government, the SPD-led Federal Finance Ministry is responsible for these funds. Warken added: "That is what we should be talking about – how well this money is reaching people, and what can still be done better there."
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