Merz promises investors fundamental reforms in Germany

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has promised investors from the business world fundamental reforms in Germany. The need for structural reforms is great, said the CDU chairman at a meeting with business representatives from the Made for Germany business initiative in Berlin. The federal government has initiated a number of things, but we are not yet where we actually want to be at the moment.

Merz said that no one should doubt his determination to continue implementing reforms step by step. Next week, the coalition committee will deal with the planned flexibilization of the labor market: "We have a lot of catching up to do," said Merz.

The coalition committee agreed in principle on the labor market reforms in June. This agreement must now be followed by “a whole series of labor market legislation,” said the Chancellor.

Disagreement regarding weekly working hours

The Union and the SPD had agreed to relax the fixed-term rules for jobs. Employers should be able to hire employees on a temporary basis more extensively than before. For employees hired until the end of December 2030, a fixed-term contract without any objective reason should be possible for a maximum period of up to 48 months and with up to six extensions. Currently, fixed-term contracts of up to 24 months are possible without any objective reason.

At the last coalition committee, however, the governing parties were not yet able to agree on the change from daily to weekly working hours as provided for in the coalition agreement. According to a draft from Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) that became known in June, this should be linked to collective agreements. However, this was sharply criticized by the Union and numerous business associations.

“We believe in Germany, we want to invest here”

The Made for Germany initiative, led by Siemens and Deutsche Bank, was founded a year ago with the aim of contributing to improving the investment climate in Germany. In his speech, Merz promised the entrepreneurs the support of the federal government. “We want to support you and all your employees in investing in the future of our country,” he said. According to Merz, Germany is developing into one of the best investment locations in the world.

Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing said: "We believe in Germany, we want to invest here." However, according to him, investments need reliable and competitive framework conditions.