Overview

• Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he expects the coalition to agree key Eckpunkte for a Bürgergeld overhaul this year, describing the benefit as a future "new basic security."
• Merz has floated roughly €5 billion in savings from Bürgergeld, while SPD chair and Social Minister Bärbel Bas urged caution and tied any reductions to a stronger labor market.
• Bas noted that bringing 100,000 additional people into work could save one to two billion euros, reaffirming that she accepts the need for reform without dismantling the welfare state.
• The government will convene a steel summit at the Chancellery to safeguard domestic production and launch a dialogue on the auto sector as industry pressures intensify.
• A roughly €30 billion gap in the 2027 federal budget remains unclosed, with Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil seeking to avoid public infighting as the coalition prepares a broader package; Greens and the Left issued sharp critiques.