Germany's Federal Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger (CDU) has announced that the Federal Cabinet will approve measures to reduce the burden of bureaucracy by €600 million annually for citizens and businesses at its meeting on Wednesday. Speaking on Tuesday in Berlin, Wildberger said more than ten measures from various ministries were on the government's agenda to reduce bureaucracy costs.
Speaking on ARD's "Morgenmagazin," Wildberger highlighted the digitization of doctor referrals as one concrete example, noting that the traditional paper-based referral slip will soon be phased out entirely. "That can be done digitally too," he said, adding that the paper document would soon become "history."
Wednesday's session is set to mark the second sitting of what has become known as the "Entlastungskabinett," or Relief Cabinet, a special cabinet format in which ministers focus exclusively on bureaucracy-reduction measures rather than the government's broader legislative agenda. The initiative, launched by Wildberger, first convened in early November.
Since then, the government says it has already introduced measures projected to save €9.8 billion annually, with the new €600 million package representing the next installment.
According to government sources, the centerpiece of the new package is the "Act on Data and Digital Innovation in Healthcare," which alone is expected to relieve businesses of an estimated €445 million in costs. Under the proposed law, an electronic referral slip would be introduced, and the scope of services covered by the electronic patient file would be expanded.
Other measures on the cabinet's agenda include scrapping the environmental sticker requirement currently imposed on electric vehicles.
The Federal Ministry of Labor, led by Bärbel Bas (SPD), is contributing its own set of reforms focused on job placement services and occupational safety. Among the planned changes is a simplification of communication channels between citizens, the Federal Employment Agency, and companies, making interactions simpler and more digital.
The latest package builds on a series of measures the cabinet has already approved in previous sessions. These include a simplification of workplace safety regulations, steps to accelerate approval procedures, including for construction projects, a reform of driving school training, and legislation prioritizing the expansion of mobile network and fiber-optic infrastructure. The government has also scrapped the previous coalition's heating law and introduced automatic payout of child benefits.
The government says it has set in motion dozens of bureaucracy-reduction measures worth billions of euros in savings over recent months, but by far the largest share of that relief for citizens and businesses comes from a single measure: the repeal of the previous coalition's heating law.
According to government sources, the so-called Building Modernization Act accounts for savings of over €7 billion, by far the largest contributor of any single measure, by abolishing climate requirements for installing new heating systems, a change officials say will allow "modernization measures to be implemented more quickly and easily in the future."
Government circles acknowledged on Wednesday, however, that this newly regained freedom in the boiler room could also give rise to further, as yet unforeseeable costs. The law still requires increasing use of green fuels such as green gas or bio-heating oil in heating boilers for climate protection purposes, which officials said would create "further costs" that "cannot currently be quantified due to uncertainties around future prices of biogenic fuels."
Wildberger, who also holds cross-departmental responsibility for state modernization and bureaucracy reduction, said the government has "picked up speed" on cutting red tape. He noted that businesses in particular face significant costs from bureaucracy, pointing out that approvals often take too long. "It's about acceleration and, of course, also about cost reduction," he said, referring to the broader push to streamline administrative procedures.
On infrastructure, Wildberger said "an incredible number of things" had already been set in motion, citing the government's so-called construction turbo initiative as one example. He explained that the federal government is creating the necessary framework for faster approvals, though ultimate implementation depends on action at the local level.
The minister's stated goal is to reduce Germany's overall bureaucracy costs by 25 percent, or roughly €16 billion, by the end of the current legislative period in 2029. According to government figures, measures already introduced since the initiative began account for close to €10 billion of that target.
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