Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said his conservative Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) had approved a "catalog of significant reforms" to "modernize" the economy and restore competitiveness.
The announcement came at a press conference on Thursday, with Merz standing alongside SPD leaders Bärbel Bas and Lars Klingbeil, as well as the leader of Bavaria's conservative CSU, Markus Söder. The four coalition leaders had met in Berlin the previous day to hammer out the final details of their package.
Measures include €10 billion ($11.4 billion) in income tax relief, the end of phone-based sick notes and the implementation of pension commission proposals by the end of 2026.German coalition announces sweeping reform packageTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Germany's reform plan at a glance
Pensions: Implementing pension commission proposals, including a new investment-based element to Germany’s mainly pay-as-you-go state pension system, and gradually raising the retirement age over the coming decades.
