ruth901
Companies are worried about reliefFamily business owners are demanding that the Bundestag cancel the summer break for reforms
A look into the empty plenary hall of the Bundestag – this is what it could look like for weeks in the summer.
picture alliance/dpa / Michael Kappeler
Taxes, labor market, pensions: the black-red coalition has a lot to do. Actually too much to get everything through the Bundestag before the summer break. A business association is now pushing the pace.
From the perspective of the Association of Family Businesses, the Bundestag should skip its summer break this year in order to discuss and decide on the planned reforms. Association head Christine Ostermann told the editorial network Germany (RND): “It must under no circumstances happen that over the long summer every individual measure is picked apart by the various interest groups and in the end there is little or no relief for companies and their employees.”
According to the RND, Ostermann wrote a corresponding letter to the members of the black and red government factions. In it she called for “the committees relevant to the reform package to continue working in the summer”. The aim should be for the Bundestag to be able to pass the reform laws in the second and third reading in August. Ostermann also refers to the companies’ planning. The investment plans in most companies would be approved in the fall. Beforehand, calculations have to be made – on the basis of passed laws.
The Parliamentary Managing Director of the Union faction, Steffen Bilger, told RTL/ntv about the proposal to skip the summer break: “Just because it's the summer break doesn't mean that we wouldn't work more as MPs.” Discussions, working group meetings and coalition meetings take place regularly. “The cabinet meets throughout the summer and the decisions have to be made there, which are then forwarded to the Bundestag.” Committees could meet for special meetings at any time. It is ensured that the necessary decisions are made without delay.
The coalition committee, the central decision-making body of the black-red government alliance, is supposed to decide on fundamental reforms by the summer break – as things stand, the parliamentary holidays begin after the last session of the Bundestag on July 10th. According to an earlier statement by the party leaders of the Union and SPD, these are the issues at stake: taxes, the labor market, pensions and reducing bureaucracy. Reforms are also planned for statutory nursing care insurance and statutory health insurance. The parliamentary summer break ends at the beginning of September.
Sources used: mba/dpa
