A German labor union chief has expressed skepticism over a proposal to establish a new federal special fund for the German military, funded by debt, by the previous German parliament. Stefan Wolf, the president of the German Metal and Electrical Industry Association, Gesamtmetall, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview that such a move “doesn’t quite add up.” He said that a predecessor would not take such far-reaching decisions without the consent of the new leadership, even if they were about to leave their position.
Wolf, whose union represents over 24,000 metal and electrical industry businesses, also emphasized the need for tax cuts for employees and companies. “We need tax relief, otherwise our industry and the German location will continue to decline” he said. “Look at the corporate tax rates in other countries: where they are lower, more is invested.”
The union chief suggested that tax relief might need to be phased in over time due to the difficult budget situation, but stressed that “the burdens must decrease, not increase.” He also called for cuts in the public administration, saying there was a “huge potential for savings” in the state and its authorities.
Wolf claimed that the public sector had built up hundreds of thousands of new positions in recent years, but with little noticeable improvement in services, only more bureaucracy. He suggested that the state could achieve a significant reduction in the number of civil servants simply by not replacing those retiring in the near future.
Furthermore, the union president urged cuts in the social security system, specifically in the basic security of the social welfare system. He considered a yearly cost reduction of six billion euros to be “realistic” which he said would require a “more effective migration policy” and a reform of the social assistance system to make it clear that the assistance is meant for people in need, not a general handout. The CDU’s candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, had also estimated the potential for savings at six billion euros during the election campaign.