The package unveils 62 key points from the coalition agreement that the government aims to advance before the mid-July parliamentary summer break. This was the inaugural coalition committee meeting between Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union and Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil’s Social Democrats, and it lasted only a few hours. They plan to make these meetings a regular occurrence.
Observers regarded it as a positive beginning. Meetings during Olaf Scholz’s previous government often extended into the early morning and acted more as a crisis tool. Scholz’s administration collapsed after a tumultuous coalition committee meeting on November 6, 2024, prompting elections this year.
Included in the 62 measures are tax alterations like a cut in the electricity tax and moves to reduce regulations, such as the abolition of the national supply chain act. The European supply chain act is encouraged to be implemented in a streamlined manner.
In addition to economic matters, the program addresses migration, electoral law, state modernization, and a topic dear to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: the control of wolf populations.
“It’s all happening now,” Merz stated while announcing the program. Klingbeil, who is also the finance minister, noted: “We all want quick improvements in everyday life, at work, and across every region.”
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