Overview

• CDU Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently argued that the current welfare system is no longer financially sustainable.
• Wirtschaftsweise Achim Truger responds that the social state stabilizes households during downturns and should not be blamed for fiscal gaps.
• Truger backs higher taxes on top incomes and wealth and the removal of costly privileges such as the diesel subsidy instead of cutting benefits.
• He criticizes proposals like making people fund the first year of long‑term care and favors Bürgergeld changes that improve work incentives without penalizing the poorest.
• An affected commentator warns that tighter rules, including pushing chronically ill recipients back to work and stricter housing support, risk deepening poverty and homelessness while reform ideas remain under negotiation.