CDU plans drastic cuts in ministries if they take over government. ‘If we should take on responsibility, we will reduce the personnel in the ministries by at least 15 percent in the medium term,’ said CDU parliamentary faction vice Mathias Middelberg to the ‘New Osnabrück Times’ (Tuesday edition).
‘A genuine turning point must also be reflected in the personnel budget. Through consistent digitalization, we will work even more efficiently with fewer personnel in the ministries,’ Middelberg said.
He criticized the current government for having ‘inflated the personnel like no previous government. There have been 1,700 new hires since the start of the legislative period, more than ever before, solely in the federal ministries.’
Reiner Holznagel, President of the ‘Association of Taxpayers’, demanded a ‘bureaucratic turnaround that also includes the bloated public administration’ from the next federal government.
The coalition government has established ‘an XXL state administration’ in the ministries with a record number of state secretaries and agents, despite the fact that the government apparatus ‘with around 30,000 civil servants is hardly more agile than the 18,000 employees we counted in 2013,’ the lobbyist said.
Holznagel further stated: ‘Regulatory and administrative efficiency must be more quality-oriented and not just focused on the number of civil servants. Therefore, we need a task critique in the ministries, then a partial dissolution of the departments and consolidation of competencies.’ A new federal government must not stop there: it must also critically examine the more than 900 federal authorities.’