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Press release 10.11.98 Translation of advance text This change is a manifestation of democratic normality and of a greater democratic self-awareness. We can be proud that the people in Germany have clearly rejected radical right-wing and xenophobic tendencies. I wish once again to thank my predecessor, Dr. Helmut Kohl, for his work and the dignified manner in which he handed over the chancellorship. Huge tasks lie ahead. The people expect better policies for Germany. We know that eco-nomic efficiency is the beginning of everything. And we shall have to modernize government and industry, restore and underpin social justice, develop the European house economically, socially and politically in such a way that the common currency will be successful, press ahead with restoring Germany's inner unity, and above all ensure that unemployment is reduced, that existing jobs are preserved and new ones created. For this we need new companies, new products, new markets. We need faster innovation, better training, and tax and contribution policies which take the strain off labour. This gov-ernment will face up to this problem. And it will mobilize the country's creative energies. The starting conditions are anything but favourable. The previous government has by no means left us a well-ordered household. A first look at the ledger has revealed the seriousness of the situation. The federal debt has been pushed well beyond a trillion marks. The current budget carries an interest burden of more than 80 billion marks. In other words, every fourth mark of federal tax revenue has to be set aside for interest payments. Budgetary risks running into billions were ignored. Revenue assessments were too high, ex-penditure assessments too low. For years the budget was balanced merely by one-off adjust-ments the effective of which have quickly vanished. The tremendous burdens on the budget, the serious structural problems, were simply put off until the future. According to our new assessment, annual borrowing in the medium term will have to be put at up to 20 billion marks more than envisaged in the financial plan. This I cannot and will not accept. So let me say right away that this financial burden we have inherited forces us to adopt a resolute policy of consolidation. Structural adjustments will be unavoidable. All items of federal expenditure will have to be examined. Government action must be more accurately geared to our objectives and be made more economically efficient. The misuse of public funds must be stopped. We will concentrate subsidies and social benefits more than hitherto on the genuinely needy. The citizens of this country don't expect us to accomplish everything in a short time, but they have a right to expect us not just to talk but to act to ensure that policies are again geared to people's needs. 1. We said we did not want to do everything differently but to do many things better. We will abide by this motto. This we say to those who want to fight the election campaign all over again, who again have a defeatist attitude and are spreading their paralysis and pessimism which have long enough pre-vented our country making the necessary realistic adjustments, but we also say it to those who believe the steps now taken do not go far enough. We aim to reunite society, to overcome the country's deep social, geographic, conceptual and cultural divisions. We will make a determined effort to modernize Germany and foster internal unity. This we can only do if we make an unsparing assessment of the situation, and in particular if we are mindful of our strong points, and if we have confidence in our ability to do so. This change of government is also a change of generation in the life of our nation. Our country is now being increasingly shaped by a generation who have had no direct experience of the Second World War. It would be dangerous to interpret this as abandoning our historical responsibility. Every gen-eration leaves a mortgage for posterity. No one can claim to be exonerated because they were born after the Nazi terror. To some people this change of generation is a a tremendous challenge. A glance at the gov-ernment benches or this parliament as a whole shows how the great majority of us have been politically formed. Their biographies are those of people who have led a democratic life. We have experienced and played an active part in the cultural transformation following the restoration years. Many of us were involved in the civil rights movements of the seventies and eighties. The former civil rights groups from the GDR, who together with East German Social Democrats directed the peaceful revolution in the East, are represented in this government. This generation upholds the tradition of public spirit and individual courage. They have grown up rebelling against authoritarian structures, testing new social and political models. Now it is they, and with them the nation, who are called upon to form a new political cove-nant, to do away with the stagnation and speechlessness into which the previous government led our country. We are putting in their place a policy designed to encourage people to assume greater respon-sibility for their actions. This is what we mean by the New Centre. We will pursue this course on the basis of partnership. Everyone, whether at home or abroad, can rely on this government to meet its social and political responsibility. The hopes placed in us are almost overpowering, but a government cannot bring about the necessary improvements alone. Everyone must help. And the greater the number of people who participate through their initiative and achievements in the task of reforming our society, the better our chance of accomplishing it. The people of Germany have no shortage of creative energy. We will help them release that energy. 2. Our most urgent and grievous problem continues to be mass unemployment. It leads to emo-tional distress and the collapse of social structures. It deprives some of hope and fills others with fear. In addition, it is costing the country 170 billion marks a year. The government is fully aware that one of the main reasons for its election is that it is expected to take effective steps to reduce unemployment. We are facing up to this challenge. Every measure, every instrument will be checked to see whether it safeguards existing jobs or creates new ones. And we want the extent to which we are succeeding in reducing unemploy-ment to be judged at any time, not only after four years. The tax reform we will be starting in the next few days will be the first step. We won't spend another 16 years discussing the need for such reforms or the pros and cons for the interest groups. We will actually carry out the tax reform. This will also make government credible again. The reform will be based on our awareness of economic necessity. It combines modern prag-matism with a keen sense of social fairness. The main emphasis will be on relieving the burden on those in employment and their families and on small and medium-sized companies. We intend to increase their investment potential. Both together will help reduce unemployment, create new jobs and safeguard existing ones. Our tax reform will provide relief totalling 57 billion marks. After counter-financing the net re-duction for citizens and companies is 15 billion marks. Income tax rates will be considerably lowered, child benefit increased. Taking the legislative period as a whole, the tax reform will bring annual net tax relief of 2,700 marks a year for an average family with two children. We will plug loopholes and eliminate unjustified concessions and thus ensure a fairer distribution of tax burdens. We will also thoroughly reform the company tax. Company income will be eventually taxed at a maximum rate of 35 per cent. We are now creating the statutory framework for this. We are thus easing the burden on small and medium-sized business, which has a key role to play in creating jobs. We have also given consideration to the concerns of small business in other ways. The tax loss carry-over will remain the same, and the one-year carry-back will remain for losses arising in 1999 and 2000 and not exceed two million marks. The reinvestment of profits from the sale of land and property will continue to qualify for tax concessions under section 6b of the Income Tax Act. New businesses will be able to continue to claim special and advanced depreciation allowances. This will apply to small and medium-sized enterprises until the year 2000. The lowering of rates for capital gains will only be readjusted through a mathematical distribu-tion of the profits, not cancelled. This will curb tax shelter arrangements - and should not mean any worsening of the position for a successor. We will make tax laws more transparent and efficient. Superfluous tax subsidies are to be abolished and valuable tax money will no longer be wasted on senseless tax-saving schemes. As for the "comprehensive broadening of the tax assessment base" mentioned in the coalition agreement, interested groups have reacted as if we intend to deprive companies literally of their bread and butter. Our reply to them is that in the past only a few have benefited from tax relief - the great major-ity having suffered from tax increases. Any sensible tax reform must first of all stop this trend. Meanwhile economists and far-sighted entrepreneurs have begun to regard this tax reform as a great opportunity. They appreciate the perspective we have opened up with our gradual tax relief measures. They see the trend reversal we have begun: relief and simplification rather than, as hitherto, always higher rates and ever less transparency. And they are willingly accepting our invitation to discuss ways and means of restructuring tax legislation in a joint commission. But to those who have been throwing strident accusations at us in the recent weeks I would say: You cannot have low, simple tax rates as in the United States and keep the large number of exemptions we have in Germany. That is not the name of the game. 3. We shall at long last subject the use of economic resources to market economy reason. Hence we shall immediately embark on the path of ecological tax and contribution reform. By doing so we are carrying out a long overdue reversal of policy. Nature and energy as finite and thus scarce commodities will be made more expensive in order to make labour, of which there is plenty, cheaper. Let me repeat once again: The aim is not to tap another source of public revenue. By taxing energy we are following the example of our neighbours in Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria. We are solving the problems of modern society with the means of modern society. We will use the energy tax revenue to reduce statutory non-wage labour costs. And through the incentives created by the energy tax we are encouraging the creation of new jobs in viable, future-oriented technologies. In this way we are introducing the market economy into the exploitation of resources - within the limits of what is feasible and socially acceptable in Europe. And we are at the same time banking on the employment effects of future-oriented production processes. That is our idea of a modern taxation and economic policy. We are not arguing about the ficti-tious alternative of a supply or demand orientation. That argument leads nowhere. Supply and demand do not conflict with one another. We need to ease the net burden on private households in order to stimulate the domestic econ-omy so that the people are able to buy what industry produces. And by opening up the markets and reducing bureaucracy, as well as by encouraging innova-tion and future-oriented industries, we are improving the conditions for new products, new markets and new processes. We must learn to link things together and see them as a whole. We are proponents not of a rightist or a leftist economic policy but of a modern social market economy. At long last this government is making economic policy again. We are offering the people the change to become self-reliant. Anyone who wishes to set up in business, to market a good idea, will receive all the help we can give them. Our banks are still too reluctant to provide money for business start-ups. They call it "venture capital". We regard it as "opportunity capital" to help new businesses find their feet. According to the latest surveys, more than half of the next batch of school or university graduates want to become self-employed. Not so long ago this would have been inconceivable. But the new founders' age has already begun. We have read the signals and will be issuing our own, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. A modern policy for them means less bureaucracy, faster innovation, better access to new technologies, more efficient marketing, help and support in international markets, and of course a less severe burden of taxes and con-tributions. If we want more private provision for old age then we shall simply have to ease the burden on net incomes so that people can afford that provision. If we want people to achieve more then we must ensure that what they achieve is worth the effort. We must ensure that those ready to make the extra effort - whether engineers, nurses or skilled workers - benefit from it. This is what we mean when we speak of a new policy, a policy which does not take a com-partmentalized approach but sees problems within the overall context. That is why I say our tax reform is a good beginning. But this does not mean we have already achieved our objective of creating a transparent and fair tax system. That goal we shall achieve step by step. In recent years a great deal has been said about Germany's advantages and disadvantages as a location for business. But the term "location" is deceptive because it can also suggest immobil-ity, whereas we want this country to be regarded again as a place of mobility. 4. Together with the energy industry and the environmental associations we shall be looking for new ways of supplying the country with energy. Nuclear energy is socially unacceptable. By the same token it does not make economic sense either. We will therefore phase it out in an orderly fashion. But phasing out is not the government's main consideration. It is more concerned with adopt-ing a future-oriented energy supply concept. The proportion of nuclear energy will be reduced step by step and ultimately replaced. This will be a huge investment programme which will also create new jobs. In this process we are relying chiefly on the innovative and development
potential of renewable sources of energy. And we are relying on the consistent
use of conservation options - in con-nection with electricity generation,
electrical equipment, buildings and road traffic. Together with the energy
industry we will find tolerable solutions for a future without nuclear
power stations. On the other hand, the problem of disposing of radioactive waste will be with us and future generations for thousands of years. The previous disposal concept has failed. We shall be replacing it with a national plan under which disposal will be confined to direct final storage. Arranging for nuclear waste to be transported from one end of the country to another, an undertaking which can only be carried out safely with massive police protection, is not suited to a consensus and future-oriented democracy. On the other hand, we have to remember that previous governments have concluded binding agreements on the return of nuclear waste. These matters too have to be settled by mutual consent with our partners in Britain and France. We intend to permit nuclear fuels to be transported only where no approved interim storage capacity is available at the power station. In a new energy mix we shall need both pitcoal and lignite. We urge the application of highly efficient state-of-the-art technology and better use of distant heating systems and combined heat and power generation. We will put into effect the coal policy compromise reached in March 1997 and defend it in Brussels. In order to restructure the German coalmining industry along socially acceptable lines we shall have to work out the necessary guidelines for the period after 2005 in good time. It is a question of providing companies and their workforces with a reliable basis for their planning The climatologists and exemplary entrepreneurs who received the Federal Environmental Pro-tection Prize a few days ago have stated in no uncertain terms that especially on matters of climate protection those in positions of responsibility cannot wait until more is known about further damage to the environment. They urge active prevention measures. We are facing up to this responsibility, together with scientists, environmentalists and private companies. 5. The government and the various branches of the economy must improve their cooperation in order to make better use of the synergy effects. Where the government can help it will do so. We will streamline the administration to make it more efficient and quickly remove bureaucratic obstacles. For instance, we will draw the great variety of environmental protection laws together in a single Environment Code. We will discard superfluous provisions and prune the regulatory for-est. We will launch an early and thorough reform of the judicial system. The basic structure of our civil and criminal justice system is as it was a hundred years ago. It needs to be thoroughly reviewed and modernized. The citizens should have faster recourse to justice and court caseloads are to be reduced. We will also make a determined effort to simplify legislation. Greater respect must be paid to the rights of the victims of crime. This applies particularly to the weakest members of our society: abused and mistreated children. Where possible we will make greater provision for offender - victim mediation and for the assignment of offenders to charity work as a modern form of sanction. It is in the interests of the community to ensure that especially offenders who have been given short prison sentences do not create additional costs. Unless society has to be protected from them they should be assigned to useful com-munity work. Much of our attention will focus on the promotion of conciliation. We must stop the ruinous trend of offloading ever more civil, social, economic and even political disputes onto the courts. We shall look for wider possibilities of settling disputes out of courts and in ways people will appreciate. We urgently appeal to citizens and interest groups to exhaust these possibilities before going to court. Let me state quite clearly that this government does not want to impose upon people but to encourage them. On the other hand, making the state leaner and more efficient must not mean weakening it, especially in areas where the more vulnerable members of society depend on its support. We want a country which protects and extends civil rights. We will stick to the principle of state and legal protection for those unable to look after themselves. I do not want a society in which a few people can afford to buy protection while the majority live in fear of crime. Tough on crime, tough on its roots - that is my, our idea of a state meeting its responsibility to afford protection. We will resolutely fight crime in all its manifestations. The police can rely on our support. However, a good internal security policy cannot be confined to police action and the enforce-ment of criminal law. Where responsible social and domestic policy work hand in hand it is often possible to introduce one measure with a twofold effect: helping citizens reclaim the public domain and creating jobs which make sense even from a business point of view. Take the following graphic example. In Dortmund unemployed people were trained as security staff for local public transport. As a result vandalism and fare-dodging has been reduced to one-tenth of what it had been previously. And the number of people using the metropolitan railway at night has doubled. This example shows that we need a government which stands by its citizens, helping them take responsibility for their own lives. 6. But running one's own life means first and foremost being able to provide for oneself. And how are young people to be able to shape our society, our future, if we don't even give them the chance to look after themselves? That is why the government will introduce an immediate action programme to get 100,000 young people in training and jobs as quickly as possible. The programme will focus particularly on eastern Germany. That is the first step. The purpose of an active labour market policy must be to build bridges to the first labour market. We all know that sound training is the best foundation for a secure job. Our dual system of vocational training is still outstanding in Europe. But the creeping nationalization of training must stop. Business and the public sector have a duty to increase the number of apprentice-ships so that all young people can obtain proper qualifications. I trust this will not require any constraints. But to the young people themselves I must also say that their moral right to training and work implies an obligation to accept offers of vocational training. In Germany, compared with other European countries, it takes too long for young people to be able to acquire job responsibility. We are not aiming to shorten periods of training but to ensure a better distribution of training over a person's lifetime. Vocational education, training regulations and curricula will be made more flexible. Improve-ment and modernization of training and certificates should be a permanent topic for an Alliance for Jobs. We intend to get ourselves in shape for a knowledge-based European society. By that we do not of course mean a society of masterminds and people in white coats. My idea of a knowledge-based society is one in which people have job qualifications. Hence the government will quickly mount a training and qualifications offensive. We want the best possible training for all, greater equality of opportunities, encouragement for people with different talents, greater efficiency and more competition. This government has nothing against the formation of elite groups. Society needs them. But it all depends on what one understands by "elite". Going by my own experience, I would say you don't become a member of an elite because of your parents' background but on the strength of your own ability. Elites emerge from equal educational opportunities and from what the individual makes of it on his or her own responsibility. At any rate it should not be parents' wealth that determines what opportunities our society has to offer. Thus already in 1999 we will launch our programme for the reform of vocational training. It will serve as the umbrella for all government assistance in this field. We propose to strengthen our universities. They must be centres for the birth of ideas and the solution of problems. We also want them to become workshops of the future. We must stop the migration of our research workers and at the same time strongly encourage application-oriented research. We also need better educational planning for we can no longer afford to let an alarmingly large proportion of our young scientists be trained for work for which there is no demand on the labour market. Our universities and polytechnics too must be open to competition. Competition is good for business. The universities must also do much more to encourage business start-ups. Teaching and research should be stripped of bureaucracy and made competitive through fixed budgets and a greater degree of autonomy. We will thoroughly review the official status of university staff so as to provide more incentives for achievement and innovation in this field as well. Let us not deceive ourselves. Much is amiss as regards the transfer of scientific findings to industry. It still takes far too long for scientific knowledge to be applied to production. As for the speed of innovation, we lag behind not only the United States but European coun-tries as well. The Americans earn more than 30 billion marks a year from the export of processes, licences and patents. By comparison, our industries must these days import more engineering services than they export. Research, teaching and industry have grown too far apart from one another. The universities face radical changes comparable to those of the seventies. The government is aware of this challenge. We will therefore double our investment in research and training over the next five years. At the European level, too, we will increase our efforts to develop new technologies. Together with our partners we intend to create Transeuropean Networks and a modern scien-tific infrastructure. It is true that creativity, artistic fantasy, craft skills, brilliant ideas and the courage to pursue a trailblazing innovation cannot be brought about by dint of government organization. They result from a process of countless tiny improvements involving the daily work of thou-sands of creative, imaginative, knowledgeable and courageous people. Here much depends on young people. They have the chance to gain the experience we older ones were never able to. We want to, we must and we will ensure that their experience is not that of someone who is excluded before even being able to make a start. 7. But let us be under no illusions. Tackling unemployment is an epochal challenge and to meet it will require the cooperation of all social players. There is no one single solution to the problem. Fiscal policy, reductions in non-wage labour costs, investments in the future and collective bargaining, they all must fit together. Only if the economic players pull in harness can more jobs be created on a sustainable basis. Here the German employers have the same responsibility as the unions and relevant social organizations. I invite them all to join in an Alliance for Jobs. I am pleased to be able to tell you that the first meeting of this Alliance, which is conceived as a permanent forum to combat unemployment, is to take place early in December. Those concerned are, I now know, keen to take up my invita-tion and to meet their responsibilities. I expect the participants to cast off old habits of mind, perceptions of vested interests. I look forward to discussions that will allow an unbiased appraisal of the situation and fair solutions based on a spirit of give and take. In many areas we can already see successful Alliances for Jobs at work: in neighbouring coun-tries but also very often at the company level. German entrepreneurs with a sense of social responsibility and hard-working shop stewards endowed with sound commercial sense have made people abroad realize that the modern co-determination we have evolved in Germany has a great deal to offer. The Alliance for Jobs is the right place for broaching urgent issues. We need to consider, for instance, how changes in taxes and contributions might provide greater leeway in the area of collective bargaining. What are the implications of targeting social benefits more directly to those most in need? What scope can we create for investment? What is the potential of new instruments such as invested wages? What gains can more flexible working hours bring? I also want us to seize the unique opportunity offered by the new political constellations in Europe. With this Government, the fight against unemployment can finally be tackled also at the European level. With its tax reform, reductions in non-wage labour costs and a crash programme to get young people into work, the Government is already making a strong and constructive contribution to the success of the Alliance even as preparations get under way. I trust the other economic players will follow suit. People rightly expect us to live up to our responsibilities and grasp the opportunities held out by an Alliance for Jobs in a Europe that believes in social commitment. No one is looking for patent recipes but all of us have a duty to do our best. And that means cooperation, confidence and faith in the future. 8. An Alliance such as I have described can succeed only if we look reality squarely in the face. The least our citizens can expect is that we are honest with them. We must not shy away from harsh truths. Often enough what is really happening in our society has been covered over by layers of distortion and rash promises. This Government is going to tell people neither "everything's a mess" nor "everything's going to be fine". But the Government does say for example that here in Germany there are people whose condi-tions of work amount to naked exploitation. The fact that often enough people doing these jobs are illegal residents working illegally in no way excuses the degrading and repugnant cir-cumstances they find themselves in. The Government also maintains that in this country there is a supply and demand for jobs, well paid moonlighting jobs, for which neither taxes nor social insurance contributions are paid. No one should minimize the problem or stop combating it with the full force of the law. Moon-lighting is and remains a form of cheating, those who do it cheat their fellow-citizens. But moonlighting will only vanish when people in regular work, paying their taxes and insur-ance contributions, find their work pays. When holding down a job once again means people have more money in their pockets. So in this area, too, our guideline must be: tough on crime and tough also on the causes of crime. What applies to public security also applies to social security. We want to do whatever is necessary so all citizens can feel secure. There are, however, grounds for believing that it is our social security system and its high costs that drive ever more people into circumventing the system, into illegal jobs with no social pro-tection or into fictitious self-employment. If that is so, it means social security in the abstract is in fact increasingly producing social in-security for the individuals concerned. And it also means that the way we organize social security is in fact endangering or destroying jobs. That is why we must take a long hard look at our social security system and costs. We will not shut our eyes to the facts. And we will take the action that is required. For the first time a German Government is now going to use government funds to reduce non-wage labour costs. The planned cut of 0.8 % in pension insurance contributions will be introduced accord-ing to schedule on 1 January 1999. In selected cases we are also prepared to subsidize social insurance contributions in order to make labour less expensive. The social safety net must be turned into a trampoline, so that anyone who needs temporary help will quickly be able to bounce back onto his own two feet. That is what we mean when we say we prefer to pay for jobs than for people doing nothing. For this approach we know we have the backing of the great majority of the population. But labour costs will not fall appreciably merely as a result of the Government's initiatives. To achieve a just reform of our welfare state, everyone involved must play their part: the employ-ees who pay their insurance contributions, the various associations, insurance providers and pension funds, employers and unions. Our guiding principle will be this: the welfare state will be judged not by the billions that are spent on it but by the quality of the service it gives to the citizen. 9. Let there be no misunderstanding: our economy produces the resources that are needed to finance the welfare state. What we cannot afford is injustice or a policy of doing nothing. There is no need to ask our citizens to prepare for "blood, sweat and tears". They have dem-onstrated that they are ready to share and to give. Surely it was only thanks to the drive and solidarity shown by people in both East and West Germany that - although much remains to be done - such remarkable feats have been achieved in rebuilding the economy in the new Länder. And let me state plainly: we are going to need that solidarity also in the years ahead. To reduce the transfer payments to the new Länder would be to jeopardize what has already been achieved. Equal living standards in East and West are clearly still a long way off. In concrete terms that means the 1993 Solidarity Pact will remain the financial backbone of economic reconstruction. The active labour market programmes in the new Länder, which were stepped up shortly be-fore the election and are due to finish soon, we will maintain at the same level and put onto a long-term footing. Through education and training measures we hope as many as possible will return to jobs in the first labour market. However, for a considerable period there will still be a strong need in Eastern Germany for an active employment policy on a relatively large scale. We will also extend the special incentives for investment in the new Länder that are due to ex-pire at the end of 1998. This Government does not want to nourish illusions. The next phase of economic reconstruc-tion in the new Länder will plainly be long and tough. To Germans in the Eastern part of the country the Government pays tribute for what they have gone through and what they have accomplished. Yet all the effort will be worthwhile, for how the different regions in the new Länder develop will provide economic and ecological models for the future - not painstaking copies of the old Federal Republic but ground-breaking new departures! And how much our culture as well has stood to gain from our fellow-Germans in the East! Their civic courage, creativity and flair for innovation can and should teach many in the West a thing or two. We are, as we know, one nation, with a common culture, language and history. Yet we are also a nation divided for forty years, forced to live in separate states. We realize the shortcomings in the arrangements for rehabilitating and compensating victims of GDR injustice. Here we will find ways to help hardship cases. To overcome rifts and divisions we believe people should try to be more normal in their deal-ings with each other. Neither preaching nor moaning nor disparagement of other people's habits and preferences have any place in a modern democracy. However, what we must and will improve is the targeting of our development and reconstruc-tion measures in the new Länder. The Government will draw up a three-fold promotion strat-egy: * To ensure that the new Länder retain their promotion priority;
Particularly young and financially still vulnerable small businesses in the new Länder are severely threatened by an increasing reluctance of people to pay money they owe. We will make sure that debtors understand there will certainly be a price to pay if they fail to meet their obligations. We intend to intensify efforts aimed at renewing and improving the urban environment. That will also enable more people to get back to work. As Chancellor I have declared that reconstruction of the Eastern Länder will be my personal concern. I will be in overall charge. We shall concentrate these powers on the Federal Chancel-lery. A Minister of State will assist me, chiefly as regards coordination with the Eastern Länder governments. The Cabinet will meet once every two months in one of the new Länder in order to discuss the situation with the relevant Land government and move forward concrete projects. Especially in the new Länder people have no small experience of both the myths and the reali-ties of politics. They have a right to demand that we state plainly what the problems are, what solutions we propose - and then lose no time in tackling them. 10. Realism and reforms are after all not options we can take up or not as we choose. The world is caught up in a vortex of change as the new millennium dawns. The digitalization of information and production, the globalization of the commodity and financial markets is forcing us to adapt our attitudes, change our habits, part with cherished customs and traditions. That is something that frightens many people. But change is nothing to be frightened of. The one thing we have to fear is being stuck in a reform bottleneck for which we have only ourselves to blame. The reality of our working lives has drastically altered. To say that someone has finally "finished" training - a turn of phrase conjuring up good long years of security - has no meaning any more. Nowadays further training, lifelong upgrading of skills is a must for everyone. But it is a challenge, too, to a person's motivation and interest in the new. Also our social security system has to adapt to this new reality. Of course when reforming the pensions system we will have to take account of the trend to increasing discontinuity in people's working lives. Particularly women must not suffer the penalty for a lifetime of flexibility, for alternating periods of child-rearing, paid employment and learning. Those who fail to grasp the importance of learning or make no use of the opportunities to learn soon find themselves in a trap. If we want ecological modernization, that means we also have to use and develop in a respon-sible manner the immense potential offered by biological and genetic engineering and medical technology. And if we want to move towards a society with a strong industrial base, technologically inno-vative, service-oriented and committed to social justice, then we cannot afford to discriminate against or to look down on particularly personal and household services . We have to get away from the idea that only hard manual labour in manufacturing or alterna-tively office occupations count as real work. We must see work as embracing everything that creates prosperity and well-being in society: those who work include those in productive jobs as also those who have taken the plunge and started their own businesses. By the same token, it includes all those who take care of people and their needs. Household helps, care for the elderly, people who help pack the shopping or park the car, those are all services society needs and of which no one need be ashamed. More and more people, in fact, are keen to use these services and pay a fair price for them. That is another reason why we want to retain the so-called 620-mark jobs, but we want them to have a reasonable level of social insurance. Those paying below 300 marks will be insur-ance-free. Since for these jobs the flat-rate of tax will also be abolished, however, they will not become unacceptably more expensive. From all this it is clear the Government explicitly recognises the need and justification for such jobs, from the point of view of the employers, the employees and the consumers. But together with the employers and the unions we intend, to combat abuse of the system. 11. More flexibility in people's working lives must not be at the expense of social security. And es-pecially not at the expense of women - from whom society has always demanded maximum flexibility as an absolute matter of course. We have to make provision so that women who want to do so can work and have careers. It is not just obsolete social structures that are the obstacle here. We also have to create a school and child-care system that reflects the needs of modern family life and of single parents. Already in early 1999 the Government will launch an action programme on women and work. We will bring in an effective Gender Equality Act, ensure equal opportunities in training for future-oriented careers, support women starting up their own businesses and improve arrangements for more flexible working hours. Child-rearing benefit and leave we will develop into parental benefit
and flexible parental leave. We will support the creation of more and
better child-care facilities On this point, too, there has been a great deal of debate over the years. And nothing has hap-pened. Or what has happened has actually made the situation worse for those concerned. For that reason as well we are called on to modernize the system and at the same time to re-store and safeguard social justice. 12. The Government will first of all cancel the measures enacted to the detriment of the pensioners by the previous government. I call them "measures" and not "a reform". Reform is something that still lies ahead of us. We want to restore the true meaning of the word. That was what it meant when women won the right to vote almost exactly 80 years ago, a reform for which August Bebel and the Social Democrats fought long and hard. And that was also what it meant in the seventies, when Social Democrats and their coalition partners under Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt actually "dared more democracy" with greater equality of opportunity. Today once again there is a need for reforms that improve the quality of people's lives. In essence the problem is how to give these gigantic productive forces, this tremendous wealth of goods and services we are creating a social meaning and purpose. This then must be the New Centre's flagship national project: the ecological renewal of our country in a spirit of solidarity, with a modern, social market economy our goal. That is why we want the pensions system to truly reflect solidarity between the generations, not just between occupational groups. We want a meaningful contract between the genera-tions, not a contract that penalizes work. It is on these lines that we will table a bill in the Bundestag to reform the pensions system based on solidarity and social reality. At the same time we make a three-fold pledge: * We will guarantee today's pensioners their pensions, and at any rate
ensure that their often already modest pensions will not be reduced. This package will be made up of four different parts: - the national insurance scheme; In many countries all over the world we can see the benefits of the kind of reforms we have now in principle agreed. It is up to us to learn from their example. That means we must look at the whole gamut of pension provision. As far as the national insurance scheme is concerned, we have to broaden its financial base and finance non-insurance benefits from the government budget. In the field of life insurance we want to see more competition and transparency. There must be full agreement in the Alliance for Jobs on future-oriented company pension schemes. We intend to support plans to enable employees to participate in productive capital. By reduc-ing the net burden of taxes on wage-earners and those paying income tax we will give the two sides of industry greater leeway in collective bargaining. Such a reform will be worthy of the name - unlike the cuts in pensions and other benefits we will be cancelling before the year is out in order to gain greater scope for forward-looking so-lutions. The measures to curb protection against dismissal and curtail sick pay will be cancelled with effect from 1 January 1999. In the health sector we will introduce measures to lessen the financial burden on the sick, es-pecially those with chronic illnesses and elderly patients. The charge patients must pay them-selves for medicines will be reduced, also with effect from 1 January 1999. The special yearly hospital charge will be cancelled with immediate effect. In this field, too, the financial resources available today are sufficient to provide high-quality health care. As far as national health insurance is concerned, the right way is not to ration health services but to rationalize their delivery. To want to preserve the tradition of social security appears today in some quarters revolution-ary. And to attempt to do so using traditional methods may even be reactionary. But we see no contradiction here: we stand for realism and reform. 13. Realism teaches us for instance that the immigration to Germany which has taken place over the past decades is irreversible. We invited these immigrants to come and they are here to stay. And today we say these people in our midst are not strangers. It is those who propagate hatred and xenophobia who have become the strangers in our midst. To them we respond with a resolute policy for integration. For far too long those who have come to work here, who pay their taxes and abide by our laws have been told they are just "guests". But in truth they have for years been part of German society. This Government will modernize the law on nationality. That will enable those living perma-nently in Germany and their children born here to acquire full rights of citizenship. No one who wants to be a German citizen should have to renounce or deny his foreign roots. That is why we will also allow dual nationality. Integration clearly requires the full and active commitment of those who are to be integrated. But we will reach out a hand to those who live and work here and pay their taxes so they may be encouraged to participate fully in the life of our democracy. This is responding positively to the realities in Europe. Our national consciousness depends not on some "law of descent" of Wilhelmine tradition but on the self-assured democracy we now have. We are proud of this country, its landscape and culture, the creativeness and will to achieve of its people. We are proud of the older generation that rebuilt the country after the war and gave it its place in a Europe at peace. We are proud of the people in the Eastern part of Germany who threw off the communist yoke and brought down the Wall. That is the self-confidence of a nation that has come of age, that feels neither superior nor in-ferior to anyone. A nation that accepts its history and its responsibility but also looks to the future. That knows democracy is never safe for ever and that freedom, in the words of Goethe's "Faust", must daily be conquered anew. Our neighbours in Europe also know they can trust us Germans the more, the more we trust ourselves. In the past it was always the dangerous complexes to which we were prey that sowed the seeds of extremism and discord. It is now some eighty years ago that the First World War came to an end. In France and Ger-many that means remembrance of untold pain and suffering. Both nations are united in their conviction, "Never again!" For us Germans yesterday, 9 November, is a date pregnant with history and uniquely ambiva-lent. No date is a more vivid symbol of the pride and pain, joy and disgrace of our nation's history. It is the day the first German republic was proclaimed. It is the day that for millions of East Germans brought the right to cross over the Berlin Wall. But it is also "Reichskristallnacht", the day when in 1938 Germans driven by racial hatred set fire to synagogues all over the country and destroyed the houses and businesses of their Jewish fellow-citizens. Much in our constitution we owe to men and women whose ideas were shaped by the memo-ries of the Nazi reign of terror. For us, too, this heritage is an obligation. But today our democracy is no longer a tender seedling, it is a strong upstanding tree. With the help of their friends and allies the Germans have been reunited in peace and self-determination. We remain unreservedly committed to the Western Alliance and the European Union. Today we are democrats and Europeans - not because we have to be, but because we want to be. And as democrats and Europeans we are keen to further develop the instruments of democ-racy. We will adapt them to the needs of a modern policy founded on dialogue and partnership. We intend to strengthen the rights of citizens to participate in democratic life. We will discuss with environmental organizations a special right for them to take legal action - not in order to delegate still more political decisions to the judges but to strengthen the partici-pation of concerned and well-informed citizens even at an early stage. Where feasible, we will make new laws subject to review, so that after a reasonable trial period they can again be submitted to Parliament for revision or confirmation. In this respect we concur with the great philosopher Ernst Bloch who once said, "Everything that makes any sense may already have been pondered seven times over. But when it is pon-dered yet again, in another time and place, it is no longer the same. Not just your own way of thinking but above all what is being thought about has changed in the meantime." That will be our maxim when we pledge this: we will acknowledge reality and practise more democracy. 14. It is a vibrant and stable democracy which we are taking to Berlin as the constitutional bodies relocate. The building work is rapidly being completed and the Government will help to create the conditions Berlin needs in order to do justice to its role as capital city. We will in particular support urban development work in central Berlin. But it will be more than just a relocation. It is also a new beginning. We are not going to Berlin because we failed in Bonn - quite the opposite: Forty years of successful democracy in Bonn, the policy of understanding and good neighbour-liness, the beacon of a life in freedom, contributed to overcoming the division of Germany and to making possible what is today generally referred to as the "Berlin Republic". Jürgen Habermas and many others have expressed the hope that this "Berlin Republic" would be a civil, cosmopolitan country blending carefully and cooperatively into the family of nations. But in public discussion, objections have also been raised against this concept. For some, "Berlin" still sounds too Prussian and authoritarian, too centralist. We would like to respond with our completely non-aggressive vision of a "Republic of the New Centre". This New Centre excludes nobody. It represents solidarity and innovation, enterprise and civic spirit, ecological responsibility and political leaders who see themselves as modern managers of opportunity. This New Centre is symbolically taking shape in Berlin - at the heart of Germany and at the heart of Europe. But here, too, the past is still very much alive. Most recently, large German companies have been confronted with their past in no small measure. I therefore called together the companies concerned before I took up office to discuss a joint fund to compensate forced labourers in respect of rightful claims. I have the impression that these companies are willing to come to a fair settlement. When it is not a case of compensating for injustices suffered, however, we will protect our companies, and thus also their employees, both at home and abroad. A decision on the Holocaust memorial in Berlin will not be made on the basis of an executive decision but here in the Bundestag, taking the broad public debate into account. We are sure that we will find a dignified solution within the framework of an overall concept on memorials in Germany. Notwithstanding this awareness of history, however, we recognize that Berlin also stands for traditions quite different from those relating to remembering totalitarian terror. In fact, Berlin also stands for democratic self-assertion and the yearning for freedom, as per-sonified in particular by the city's Social Democratic leaders, such as Ernst Reuter and Willy Brandt. It stands for a cosmopolitan atmosphere which has drawn young people and the cul-tural avant-garde from the whole of Europe. Cultural bridges to New York, Warsaw, Moscow and Paris have long since been rebuilt. For younger Germans and Europeans, Berlin is above all a buoyant, exciting city - and one they know from school trips, football matches or the Love Parade. If we want to make Berlin the capital of a "Republic of the New Centre", these are indeed the traditions we will relate to. The Government is explicitly committed to promoting Berlin's cul-ture. This it will do through supporting cultural projects and institutions in the new Länder. We will create the position of a Minister of State for Cultural Affairs in order to concentrate the Federation's cultural policy powers. He will give momentum to and be a contact person for the Federation's cultural policy and see himself as a representative of German culture at inter-national - especially European - level. In so doing, the Government will contribute to making cultural policy an important European domestic policy task again. 15. The Republic of the New Centre is also a republic of discourse. This discourse will not take place behind closed doors. The New Centre seeks consensus on the best possible result and not compromise on the basis of the smallest common denominator. It does not see the "new media" as just a bunch of private
TV channels, but as technically un-limited access to knowledge and to
the global exchange of information. But inevitably in the age of the Internet and online communication the expression "democratic public" takes on a new meaning. The novel ways of transmitting information are an excellent opportunity to give society a voice. They also, however, hold hidden dangers, making a responsible media policy vital. Everyone should have access to the new media. Everyone should know their benefits and their limita-tions. We thus mean it quite literally: when we demand that our children be taught how to use com-puters, the focus should not only be on the technology, but also on the culture of communica-tion. We are taking with us from Bonn to Berlin a vibrant and well-tested tradition of democratic transparency, a quality that becomes palpable here in this German Bundestag building. The Reichstag, which is soon to become the German Bundestag, is covered by a glass dome. It is more than just a pretty architectural detail. It is intended to be a symbol of the new openness and democratic restoration of a building steeped in history. It can become a symbol of modern communication among a publicly involved citizenry. This public involvement is not limited to politics. Cooperation with the churches and religious communities, important forces in cultural, political and social life, is something we will pro-mote and continue. We welcome dialogue between different religious communities and their willingness to contribute their suggestions and criticism to burning social, economic and cul-tural issues. The involvement of so many citizens in clubs and associations, in sport, in citizens' initiatives and self-help groups is one of the nuclei of our social existence and of the ability to live responsible lives. We usually only speak of a "coalition" when we are talking of parties. We are aiming for a grand, social coalition. A coalition of all the forces which want to shape reform. We are not only offering an Alliance for Jobs but also an Alliance for the Future. 16. But Berlin is also the city that for tormentuous decades was divided by the East-West conflict. Though we Germans are happy that it has been overcome, we are equally well aware that the end of the Cold War has by no means yet brought world peace. The dramatic transformation in global politics has triggered new instabilities and violent con-flicts in many regions, also on our doorstep in Europe. The misery of refugees, scarce resources and the destruction of the environment in the countries of the South are a dangerous breeding-ground for new conflicts. In view of such risks, but above all in view of the opportunities for international cooperation, the world is expecting us more than ever before to meet our obligations within the context of our alliances. We will remain a reliable partner in Europe and the world. We owe a great deal to our friendship with the United States of America - indeed no less than peace and our freedom. I will not attempt to deny that some of those sitting here in the German Bundestag today - and even some who are now members of the Government - did not always agree with what our American partners did and proposed, above all at the height of the arms race during the Cold War. And they were not alone in the Western world in so thinking. But it is that same generation which was influenced more by John F. Kennedy's visit to Berlin and his commitment to the freedom of West Berlin than by almost any other event in post-war history. Authors have referred to this generation as the "children of the American zone". They grew up with American culture and American products. The critical distance of the "children" grew into a partnership of adults. The friendship with America was not forced on that generation, but of-fered to them, by American democracy and culture. It is a friendship based on mutual under-standing and ever better mutual knowledge. It is a friendship that has stood the test of time and is not facing any severe test. We guarantee it not only for the sake of continuity or loyalty to the Alliance, but as a result of the trust that could only be built up through talking to one an-other and feeling for one another. We stand by our commitments within the Atlantic Alliance. We want to develop and use the instruments of the Common Foreign and Security Policy to enable Europe to act at long last in international politics. Our friends in the United States are waiting for this with impatience. German foreign policy is and shall remain peace policy. In this context, we are expressly committed to cooperating in peacemaking and peacekeeping missions. That applies particularly to the situation in South-Eastern Europe. We know very well that in order to ensure respect for human rights, for example in Kosovo, it is not enough to mobilize a potential military threat and to use it if unavoidable. The task of ensuring that, once concluded, agreements are adhered to and peace is secured on the ground is much more important than any possible military strike. In this task, too, our partners can rely on us. The OSCE, as the only pan-European security organization, is of paramount importance in this respect. In working for peace in Kosovo it has already taken on a task of a new quality. The Government will do everything within its power to support this mission. Thus we are also providing a very modern definition of the work of the Bundeswehr as an army that serves peace. Today, our soldiers apply their military know-how to an increasing number of civilian tasks, ranging from limiting the effects of natural catastrophes to active sup-port for democratization. We would like to express our thanks to the young Germans who are helping to keep peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Kosovo, both in military and civilian contexts. They are aware of the burden that lies on their shoulders, how carefully their performance is being observed around the world, but also here in Germany. And they are completing their tasks with admira-ble discipline and professionalism. Of course the Bundeswehr will continue to be able to defend the country and the Alliance. A Force Structure Commission will, by the middle of the legislative period, submit proposals concerning the mandate, size, equipment and training of the armed forces. On the other hand, however, we want to make it very clear that military potentials are to serve the purpose of crisis prevention and that, within peace policy, they are to be used only as a last resort. We will step up our efforts in the area of global disarmament and arms control. The Government stands by its aim of completely doing away with weapons of mass destruction. We know that something is seriously amiss if a few people are getting richer and richer while many are getting poorer and poorer. Overcoming the divide between poor and rich regions of the world remains the greatest international challenge on the threshold to the 21st century. The proportion of GNP devoted to development aid has dropped by nearly half over the last sixteen years to 0.28 per cent. We will stop this downward trend and pay attention to the effi-ciency and coherence of measures taken to tackle the global tasks of the future. At the economic summit to be held in 1999 in Cologne, we will present an initiative to further ease the burden of debt on the poorest developing countries. Together with our partners in the European Union we will further develop regional cooperation with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. We will help the states of Central America which are suffering the effects of devastating natu-ral forces. Not only with immediate humanitarian aid, but also with resources for rebuilding the infrastructures that have been destroyed. We will make every effort in the relevant international fora for them to benefit from as comprehensive debt relief as possible. We will offer separate units to the United Nations for peacekeeping measures. The Govern-ment is actively committed to maintaining the United Nations' monopoly to use force and to strengthening the role of its Secretary-General. We will pursue the opportunity of becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council if a joint European seat cannot be achieved. We do not presume to play the role of a leading power or to take political initiatives in crisis situations without liaising with our partners. We are interested in good cooperation world-wide and our foreign economic relations should also serve peace and the process of democratization. The third pillar of our foreign policy is to strengthen and develop foreign cultural policy. This is essential, especially under the conditions of globalization. We know from our own experience that peace needs economic development, and economic development needs peace. It is only when people feel that peace and democracy are worth the effort, when peaceful development tangibly improves their conditions, that a lasting solution to crises can be found. We are, together with our European partners, facing such a task in the Middle East. In the peace process between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab neighbouring states, we cannot and do not want to play the role of godfather. This part falls to the United States of America and the international organizations. But we Europeans can, through targeted economic assistance, by opening
up markets and be-ing involved in infrastructural measures, help to make
the peace process irreversible. Thus we can do justice to our historic
responsibility - for Israel and for peace. Germany's involvement in the European Union is of central importance to German policy. The Government will therefore make particular use of Germany's Presidency of the Council in the first half of 1999 to advance the European integration process. Only through developing into a political as well as a social and environmental union will the EU succeed in making people appreciate our common Europe. The change of government in Germany and the new political realities in Europe are finally providing an opportunity for a European social and employment policy. Combating unem-ployment can at last be dealt with as a European issue. It is no longer a footnote to decisions of the Council of Ministers, but tops the European agenda. Our aim is a European employment pact. It will spell out binding goals, i.e. to reduce youth and long-term unemployment and to overcome discrimination against women on the job mar-ket. In order to create future-oriented jobs, we will also work within the European Union towards a policy of ecological modernization. European Monetary Union is an irreversible fact. The euro will enable us to make prices and services fully comparable. It means that the time when nations went their own way is gone for good. That applies for example to the further development of ecological tax reform. It can only be successful within a European context. The common currency must be a success. That means it must be, and remain, stable. We do not call into question the emphasis on the stability of Europe's future monetary policy. But we want to have a discussion on interest policy, a discussion the President of the Bundes-bank also described as "desirable". The independence of the Bundesbank and of the European Central Bank will of course be respected and safeguarded. This independence follows from the Bundesbank Act and from Article 107 of the Maastricht Treaty. It is enshrined there because it is necessary from a practical point of view, and it serves stability. The fact that the European Central Bank will regularly present its monetary policy decisions in the European Parliament is a good democratic tradition. The Federal Minister of Finance was one of the first to point out the necessity of effective international arrangements in order to calm the turbulence on world financial markets. This necessity is now perceived in exactly the same way by the Bundesbank, by our European and North American partners and by the World Bank and the US Federal Reserve. Not least in the light of the international financial crises, we must work towards Europe speaking with one voice. It will therefore be an early focus of our Presidency of the Council starting on 1 January 1999 to conclude negotiations on "Agenda 2000" at a special meeting of the European Council in Spring 1999. It will deal with the tasks, expenditure and financing of the European Union. Within the context of the reorganization of the EU's finances, we want to achieve more justice in terms of contributions and to reduce Germany's net burden to an amount that is fair. In agricultural policy we are committed to bringing about fundamental changes at European level. When German farmers are put at a disadvantage by the alignment of prices to the world market level, we in Europe must enforce a system of direct income subsidies, which may also be supplemented nationally. The EU, too, must economize, use its resources efficiently and meaningfully, and combat the abuse of subsidies. In Europe as well, we must concentrate on the regions with the weakest infrastructure and most in need of promotion. In the process, the new German Bundesländer should not be discriminated against in comparison with similar regions in Europe. We will ensure that Germany no longer puts on the brakes regarding social policy in the EU. We will become an active pacemaker of EU reform. We do not want the euro to speak German. We want the Mark, Franc and Schilling to feel European. 18. Our neighbours and partners have enormously high expectations of this Government. We will not disappoint them. Regular consultations with France and Great Britain are for us no mere formality. The Franco-German friendship forms the basis of our European policy. We want to place this friendship on an even broader social, and above all cultural, basis. We are assuring our neighbours in the East that we will not hesitate to use the opportunity for EU enlargement. Europe will not and must not end at the former Iron Curtain or at Germany's eastern border. We Germans will not forget the immeasurable contribution made by the people of Hungary and Poland in overcoming the division of Germany. We want to integrate them into the EU in a spirit of partnership. Adhering to appropriate transition periods, e.g. with regard to the freedom of movement for workers does not serve to prevent or delay integration but to ensure its complete success. The Government is aware of its special historical responsibility towards Poland. It will do jus-tice to it through offering ever closer partnership as well as enhanced cooperation between Germany, France and Poland. The Government will work quickly, on the basis of the German-Czech Declaration, to resolve the problems still existing in Germany's relations to the Czech Republic. 19. The common currency is an important step on the way towards European integration. But it can clearly only be a framework. We must fill that framework with life. The European institu-tions need to be democratized quickly and credibly. At the same time, the Government is firmly convinced that our Europe should not replace or suspend national identities. In spite of this- or because of it - a federal order within Europe seems to be the best guarantee for peace, solidarity and progress. The federal system has stood the test in Germany. The Federation and the Länder continue to depend on cooperation with one another. However, this does not mean surrendering one's own interests. The Federal Government will participate in a joint formulation of the division of tasks between the Federation and the Länder that is in keeping with the times. It is only by balancing out their interests properly that both sides can do justice to their responsibility to the country as a whole and to Europe. At the end of the millennium, German is staging two large international events. In 1999, Wei-mar will be the European City of Culture, and the year after, Expo 2000 is taking place in Hanover. Both events will put the Federal Republic of Germany in the international limelight. Weimar will be the first European City of Culture in the new Länder and will try to build a bridge between its cultural heritage and the historic task resulting from our history; Expo 2000 will stand for our new start into the world of the 21st century. The Government is aware of the importance of these events and will help to make them an in-ternational success. The Government also depends on our people's commitment, their hospitality and their curios-ity. Instead of competing economies, we conceive of Europe as a place to live, and as a way of life. 20. We regard Germany in Europe as our project for the future. Together, with the social modern-izers in neighbouring countries, we are this project's vanguard. This opportunity to build to-gether a modern Europe based on a social market economy and ecological responsibility is one we will boldly accept. We are not making promises that cannot be kept. But we can and we want to instil courage in others: the courage for a new civility, the courage for more partnership, but also the courage to be optimistic and to be curious about the future. I recall Willy Brandt, who, in the policy statement of his reform alliance to this parliament in 1973, cited the "vital civic spirit" which was at home in what he, too, called the "new political centre". Helmut Schmidt said in front of this House in 1976, at a time when the economic situation was equally difficult, that the Government was above all banking on the hard work, intelligence and sense of responsibility of the German people. I am consciously following on from that idea. And I am sure: |
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