Metal industry employers: Economic turnaround threatened by SPD

Berlin – According to employers in the metal and electrical industries, the SPD is increasingly becoming a burden on Germany's economic recovery. "The fact that the economic turnaround isn't progressing quickly enough is due to the CDU/CSU's coalition partner. The SPD is clearly the obstacle when it comes to social reforms," ​​Oliver Zander, Managing Director of the employers' association Gesamtmetall, told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" (NOZ). If the federal government fails to improve the economic situation, it will run into "extremely difficult waters." Without sustainable social policy reforms, "the longest economic crisis since the founding of the Federal Republic" will continue. "And without a stable economy, there is no stable government," Zander said. Against this backdrop, it is "doubly important that the CDU/CSU exerts more pressure on its coalition partner for sustainable reforms to basic income, pensions, and healthcare." The Social Democrats must "finally take action and make corrections to the welfare state that go beyond mere cosmetic changes," Zander told the NOZ. The CEO of Gesamtmetall said that rising social security contributions are "irresponsible" because "we would then be completely uncompetitive – and because people would no longer see the value they're paying for. And the Social Democrats finally need to realize that," Zander continued to the NOZ. The goal, he said, is to preserve the welfare state: "Life's risks must be covered. But there is too much inefficiency in the system." Regarding the firewall debate within the CDU/CSU, Zander told the NOZ: "The firewall debate has become a veritable obsession. Instead of arguing about it, I think it would be wiser to examine the AfD's platform and its implications in detail. Regardless, anyone who wants to maintain the firewall must implement reform policies. A firewall and a refusal to reform are mutually exclusive."