Vertrauen ist gut, Kontrolle ist besser – trust is good, control is better – is a popular German saying. It’s also the state’s motto for overseeing Europe’s biggest economy, which is now being run into the ground. Germany’s economy is officially expected to shrink in 2024 for the second year in a row. Berlin’s Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Greens Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, who are fighting for their political lives as their coalition crumbles around them, are to blame.
Only one German sector is growing: the state. Government consumption grew by 2.8 per cent from mid-2023 to mid-2024. Dealing with bureaucracy costs German business €67 billion (£55 billion) per year, says Berlin’s Federal Justice Ministry.
Germany is a country in which it is not always easy to do business
Scholz’s answer? Expand the state, more debt, redistribute more money and, his party’s all-time greatest hit: tax the rich. Germany already has the second highest taxes in the OECD club of industrial nations. The
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