With summer recess approaching, the leaders of Germany's CDU/CSU and SPD coalition are set to convene a coalition committee on Wednesday with the aim of reaching a breakthrough on major reform projects. The meeting, to be held at the Chancellery, is intended to produce a wide-ranging package, according to government spokesman Stefan Kornelius, who announced the gathering on Monday in Berlin.
The topics on the agenda include taxes, employment, social affairs, bureaucracy reduction, and modernisation of the state. Kornelius expressed confidence in the outcome: "My outlook for 1 July is very good." There was also optimism within the SPD: "We want to get across the finish line on key issues," said SPD parliamentary manager Dirk Wiese in the Rheinische Post (Tuesday edition).
For the black-red coalition, Wednesday's summit at the Chancellery is also about demonstrating that it is capable of governing. A previous top-level meeting in April, held at the Villa Borsig and focused on the same reform agenda, ended without any breakthrough. Approval ratings for the government led by Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) are currently at rock bottom.
According to Kornelius, the party leaders had already met on Sunday at the Chancellery to prepare for the coalition committee. That meeting, he said, was shaped by "the determination to present a comprehensive package of proposals on 1 July." Further preparatory meetings were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Negotiations within the coalition have advanced to varying degrees depending on the subject. On the major pension insurance reform, coalition leaders have already committed to following the recommendations of the pension commission. The healthcare reform is expected to be passed in the Bundestag as early as next week. The tax reform, however, remains contentious, particularly the question of how to fund the planned relief for low and middle incomes.
CDU Secretary-General Carsten Linnemann declined to rule out an expansion of the so-called wealth tax, a measure the Social Democrats are pressing for. "The SPD wants to redistribute heavily," Linnemann said on ARD. "We are somewhat concerned that the middle class and the skilled trades will be run over." Small tradespeople, he stressed, should not face additional burdens.
The SPD reaffirmed its call for relief for low and middle incomes on Monday. The party must "bring something home" from the tax reform, said Annika Klose, the SPD parliamentary group's spokeswoman on labour and social policy, speaking to RBB. "The expectation is quite clear: those who are wealthy should bear a greater burden, and those with low and middle incomes should be relieved."
CDU deputy parliamentary group leader Sepp Müller, by contrast, declared that income tax reform was not an immediate priority. "The first step must be to stabilise social insurance contributions," he told the Mediengruppe Bayern. "That is the fastest way to put more net income into the pockets of people on lower and middle wages." If "further room for manoeuvre exists in the coming years," he added, he would like to see an income tax reduction.
The opposition Greens called on the coalition to get to work. "Of course our expectation is that the coalition now shifts into a working mode that does not merely consist of arguing offensively and publicly," said party leader Felix Banaszak. He warned the government against offsetting tax cuts with increases in social spending — what he described as a "rob Peter to pay Paul" approach.
Politicians from both the CDU/CSU and the SPD pointed to the handling of the pension commission's recommendations as an encouraging sign for coalition cooperation. "The preparations for the coalition committee have been carried out in the same spirit: constructively and with a focus on solutions," said SPD parliamentary manager Wiese in the Rheinische Post.
Johannes Winkel, the chairman of the Young Union, expressed a similar view. The "substantive depth and communicative cohesion" shown in the pension commission's work could, he said, "serve as a blueprint for the fact that the time has now come for major decisions", citing remarks he made to the Stern magazine.
Winkel also took aim at CSU leader Markus Söder, who had previously flatly rejected the pension commission's proposal to largely abolish contribution-free mini-jobs. "Everyone must now live up to their responsibility to this country, instead of torpedoing a pension reform that Germany has been waiting 30 years for," said the Young Union chairman.
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