German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a speech on his government’s half-trillion-euro draft budget for the next year in the Bundestag in Berlin on Wednesday morning and warned of the “big economic problem” ahead.
The Chancellor said there are studies from countries around Germany that suggest there will be a “big economic problem” in a few years because of the ageing workforce. As a result, he said, immigration is needed.
“There is no country in the world with a shrinking working population that has economic growth. That is the truth we are confronted with.”
Scholz then compared Germany to an English-speaking country and highlighted the simplified citizenship and skilled workers’ laws the government introduced.
“We want people here to get to work, to learn the German language, to abide by the laws, to earn a living, but then also to have a say,” he said.
Investment in infrastructure
Scholz also highlighted during his speech that more investment in infrastructure is needed.
“We need change, change such as what does it mean with more investment in our infrastructure e.g. our trains (Deutsche Bahn), not with the proposal from Merz [Christian Democratic Union opposition leader] that we should run less trains, but with massive investment in the infrastructure that it actually work, that the trains run better.
“We have to invest billion of euros over 10 years to renovate entire routes, because everything has been neglected for years. That goes for the streets, for the mobile phone networks, from which we have too few, that goes for the speed of approval of industrial plants,” he added.
Investment in education
Scholz also said he also wants to help young people and families.
“We are giving billions to ensure the expansion of schools and kindergartens….at the same time we have to improve the growth potential of our country and that is what we are doing with the growth initiative,” he added.
More to follow…