Among others, Germany’s central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, publicly called for tough reforms to prevent a long-term slide in Germany’s prospects, in a paper entitled 'Ways out of the crisis. Prior to this 'state-of-the-nation' speech - in which the Chancellor focused on his own solutions for job creation after having failed to reconcile trade unions and employers’ groups on this issue ( DE0302104N) - there had been numerous calls for reform. These areas are to be extensively restructured within the framework of a reform programme for Germany known as 'Agenda 2010', a title which echoes the ambitious goal of the Lisbon European Council summit in March 2000 ( EB41F), when EU leaders set out to make Europe 'the most dynamic economic area in the world' by the end of this decade. The Chancellor also made known his intentions to relax the rules governing crafts workers' qualifications, and to release EUR 15 billion in low-interest loans to local governments. Additionally, he announced plans to ensure that enough vocational training opportunities are made available. Mr Schröder asserted that a massive effort from all sections of society would be needed to restructure in a fundamental way the nation’s job protection and wage bargaining regulations, unemployment and social welfare benefits, and health and pension systems. Concentrating mainly on his domestic agenda, he presented a programme of economic and social policy reforms designed to reinvigorate the stagnating German economy. On 14 March 2003, the Federal Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, delivered a much-anticipated government policy statement in the lower house of parliament ( Bundestag) under the heading 'Courage for peace and courage for change' (' Mut zum Frieden und Mut zur Veränderung'). The key question now is whether the Chancellor can gain support, in particular from the union-dominated left-wing of his own SPD party, for his proposals. However, trade unions rebuked Mr Schröder for his 'socially unbalanced' reform proposals. The main employers’ organisations see these as key areas in which action is long overdue, and have offered broad support for the Chancellor’s aims, albeit mixed with disappointment that they do not go far enough. In March 2003, the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, outlined to parliament his domestic reform plans, known as Agenda 2010, in four main areas: relaxing, but not abandoning, rules protecting workers from dismissal along with other labour market reforms modernising the social welfare state decreasing bureaucracy for small businesses and allowing crafts workers to launch new business ventures and providing new low-interest loans to local authorities.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |