Saxony’s Minister President Michael Kretschmer feels that the federal government’s communication regarding the reform debate lacks a vision for the big picture. “Overall, the discussion is too fragmented,” the deputy chairman of the CDU told the website “t-online.” Publicly, the focus is “mainly on making cuts here and slashing budgets there so that we can somehow balance the budget.” “What I’m missing is the big picture: We’re doing this so that Germany remains a strong, united country that succeeds through the quality of its ideas and products.”
People are ready for change if it leads to improvements or prevents something bad from happening. “The federal government hasn’t yet managed to paint the big picture,” said Kretschmer. “It must answer the question: Why are we implementing these reforms in the first place?” Germany is increasingly losing ground in international competition. “We must act now to maintain our strength vis-à-vis America, China, and also Russia.”