Overview

• The new advisory council to the Economics Ministry—Veronika Grimm, Justus Haucap, Stefan Kolev and Volker Wieland—released its report on October 6 warning Germany will keep falling behind without a clear course change.
• The paper outlines a four-point growth agenda focused on greater entrepreneurial freedom, deregulation, lower social contributions and pension reforms.
• Proposed pension steps include linking the retirement age to life expectancy, slowing annual increases and abolishing the 'Rente mit 63'.
• The deregulation push targets data protection and construction law and urges scrapping Germany’s supply‑chain law and a new EU due‑diligence directive, while redirecting state support toward research instead of propping up declining industries.
• The experts give conditional support to debt‑financed special programs only if borrowing remains temporary and targeted, and their stance broadly aligns with Reiche’s priorities as the government readies an 'autumn of reforms'.