Overview
- In a keynote, Katherina Reiche labeled the moment a structural crisis and set out proposals to halt Germany’s loss of competitiveness.
- The plan would narrow government to core functions—security, infrastructure, education—while rigorously reviewing subsidies and trimming regulation.
- Energy policy would pivot toward market mechanisms to lower industrial gas and power costs versus the U.S. and to streamline climate instruments.
- Signals included tighter heating support and social-policy changes such as longer working lives and a review of first-day sick-pay rules.
- Reaction ranged from criticism by renewable-energy advocates to praise from major industry groups, as the ministry highlighted its social-market roots with the return of a Ludwig Erhard bust.