Germany approves national reform program

The German cabinet approved a reform program on December 7 entitled "Moving forward with innovation - promoting security with change - completing German unification". It lays out the government's reform policy for the years 2005 to 2008, aimed at strengthening growth and employment in the framework of the European Union's so-called Lisbon Strategy.

With the Lisbon Strategy the European countries set themselves the goal of renewing the foundations of Europe's competitiveness so that it will be able to develop into an area of sustained economic growth and higher levels of employment.

With the program the German government is implementing a decision taken by the European Council in March this year to focus Lisbon Strategy priorities more strongly on growth and employment. The EU member countries were asked to formulate national reform programs for the years 2005 to 2008 and to present them to the European Commission.

Germany's national reform program is aimed at ensuring prosperity and public confidence in Europe's long-term sustainability in the face of the challenges constituted by unemployment, government debt, globalization, and the demographic change being caused by lower birth rates and higher life expectancy.

The program makes it clear that more growth and employment at the national and European levels can only be achieved with structural reforms. At the same time, it underscores the need to strengthen social solidarity at the national and European levels as an important prerequisite for being able to cope with the radical changes taking place in industry and society.

Six key areas of policy action are identified in the strategy for more growth and employment:

1. stronger emphasis on knowledge as a key prerequisite for ensuring the sustainability of a modern society,

2. pursuit of policies aimed at making markets competitive,

3. further improvement of general conditions for business activity,

4. economically appropriate consolidation of public finances,

5. use of ecological innovation as a competitive advantage, and

6. direction of economic, financial, and labor market policy towards more employment.

Comprehensive reform projects in these priority areas have already been initiated or are planned for the current legislative term. The German government is scheduled to report to the European Commission on the status of the implementation of these reforms in the fall of 2006.

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	Germany approves national reform program The German cabinet approved a reform program on December 7 entitled "Moving forward with innovation - promoting security with change - completing German unification". It lays out the government's reform policy for the years 2005 to 2008, aimed at strengthening growth and employment in the framework of the European Union's so-called Lisbon Strategy. With the Lisbon Strategy the European countries set themselves the goal of renewing the foundations of Europe's competitiveness so that it will be able to develop into an area of sustained economic growth and higher levels of employment. With the program the German government is implementing a decision taken by the European Council in March this year to focus Lisbon Strategy priorities more strongly on growth and employment. The EU member countries were asked to formulate national reform programs for the years 2005 to 2008 and to present them to the European Commission. Germany's national reform program is aimed at ensuring prosperity and public confidence in Europe's long-term sustainability in the face of the challenges constituted by unemployment, government debt, globalization, and the demographic change being caused by lower birth rates and higher life expectancy. The program makes it clear that more growth and employment at the national and European levels can only be achieved with structural reforms. At the same time, it underscores the need to strengthen social solidarity at the national and European levels as an important prerequisite for being able to cope with the radical changes taking place in industry and society. Six key areas of policy action are identified in the strategy for more growth and employment: 1. stronger emphasis on knowledge as a key prerequisite for ensuring the sustainability of a modern society, 2. pursuit of policies aimed at making markets competitive, 3. further improvement of general conditions for business activity, 4. economically appropriate consolidation of public finances, 5. use of ecological innovation as a competitive advantage, and 6. direction of economic, financial, and labor market policy towards more employment. Comprehensive reform projects in these priority areas have already been initiated or are planned for the current legislative term. The German government is scheduled to report to the European Commission on the status of the implementation of these reforms in the fall of 2006.	Print page Back