Overview

• The Bundestag has approved the 12‑year, debt-financed Sondervermögen, with final Bundesrat sign-off due on Friday.
• The IW study flags a severe shortage of skilled workers—especially in construction, rail works, and planning/engineering—and urges a radical simplification of planning, procurement, and regulation.
• Researchers caution that a rapid spending ramp-up could fuel price increases that erode the fund’s real value.
• The program covers transport, energy, digitalisation, health, education, and more, with €100 billion for the Climate and Transformation Fund and €100 billion for the Länder.
• This year the federal government plans to deploy a little over €37 billion, including €11.7 billion for transport, while officials cite a backlog of nearly 25,000 km of damaged federal roads, 17,285 km of rail, and 1,156 bridges needing repair; remedies proposed include targeted foreign recruitment, training for the unemployed, and digitalising planning, as auditors demand clear spending rules and a new advisory council (IIB) begins work.