According to Scholz, the “Germany Pact” should contain measures to accelerate planning, strengthen growth, digitize administration and limit irregular migration. The Chancellor appealed to the 16 federal states, the municipalities and expressly also to the opposition CDU/CSU: “Only together will we shake off the mildew of bureaucracy, risk aversion and despondency that has settled on our country for years and decades.”
In his speech, Scholz addressed opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU): “We need a national effort – let’s join forces.” Many people were “almost longingly waiting for this solidarity.” The order of the day is “speed instead of standstill, action instead of sitting it out, cooperation instead of arguing.”
The “Germany Pact” should therefore start “where the citizens most urgently expect progress”. In detail, the Chancellor named the energy supply “which must be clean, safe and affordable”; the construction of new apartments and houses; the modernization and digitization of infrastructure; the competitiveness of companies and “fast, efficient, digital administration”.
In the debate, CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt was fundamentally open to the “Germany Pact” offered by Scholz. However, he also viewed the proposal as a sign that “the similarities in your coalition have clearly come to an end.” He also made cooperation dependent on a more restrictive refugee policy.
CDU/CSU parliamentary secretary Thorsten Frei also called for a change of course on the subject of migration in the Bundestag. In the “Rheinische Post” he criticized the offer as insufficient. “The citizens expect more than thin soup,” said Frei. The CDU politician Jens Spahn spoke of an “oath of disclosure” by Scholz on the Internet service X (formerly Twitter).
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich nonetheless welcomed a fundamental openness in the Union to the Chancellor’s offer in the Bundestag. FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr demanded “a signal for a joint modernization of our country” from the state premiers in the Bayern media group. This applies in particular to the Union-led state governments.
Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Stephan Weil (SPD) spoke positively about the “Germany Pact”. “We have to get faster and easier in Germany,” he explained in Hanover. With his speech, Scholz gave “the necessary starting signal”.
“The Chancellor’s goals are correct,” said DIHK President Peter Adrian to the “Rheinische Post”. It’s about “shedding ballast, becoming faster, acting bolder and more digitally”. But there must now also be “concrete results”. It is important that change “arrives concretely in practice”.
The municipalities demanded more financial resources from the federal government as part of the “Germany Pact”. “If the federal and state governments want to breathe life into the Germany Pact, they must underpin it with a clear financial basis,” said the managing director of the Association of Cities and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, to the “Rheinische Post”. He also urged local authorities to be involved in the design of the measures.
Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch initially demanded more detailed information about what was meant by the pact. “I want to see what that means in concrete terms,” he told the “world”. The name also reminds him of a former alliance between the right-wing extremist parties NPD and DVU in East Germany.
