Merkel wants to get through a crisis with a double strategy

The Federal Government’s 130 billion programs are intended to cushion the direct consequences of the corona crisis – and at the same time be an investment in the future. At least, that’s how the Chancellor explains the goal of the latest economic measures. The pandemic has shown “where our weaknesses are”.

In her weekly podcast, Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the measures taken in the economic stimulus package: the government is pursuing a double strategy of short and long-term measures. Given the worst economic downturn in the history of the Federal Republic, it was now “necessary to take bold steps to get out of this crisis,” said Merkel. At the same time, the longer-term future package deals with the fight against climate change and the digitalization of society.

Es ist jetzt richtig, mutig und entschlossen zu handeln – Kanzlerin #Merkel zum Konjunktur- und Zukunftspaket, das neben konjunkturellen Maßnahmen auch Investitionen umfasst, mit denen wir dem #Klimawandel begegnen und die Anstrengungen in der #Digitalisierung verstärken. pic.twitter.com/sxj3pKRE8E

— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) June 6, 2020

The effects of the “classic stimulus package” must “unfold in 2020 and 2021,” said the Chancellor. “The number of seven million short-time workers alone shows the difficult economic situation we are in,” she said, explaining the billions in additional expenditure.

“We live in a time when the way of doing business is fundamentally changing due to two developments, firstly the encounter with climate change and secondly the digitalization of our society,” Merkel emphasized further. Therefore, the future package included a hydrogen strategy, the stronger promotion of renewable energies, building renovation “and a complete change in the field of mobility, not only for cars in the classic sense due to changes in the direction of e-mobility but also for commercial vehicles, for the railways and for the planes “.

“to digitize the state faster, to make the services accessible to the citizens”

Commenting on digitization, Merkel said it was a matter of “promoting artificial intelligence more, promoting quantum computing as a new method of computing, with us, with our own strategic skills”. Another task is “to digitize the state faster, to make the services accessible to the citizens”. Schools need to be able to do digital lessons faster, because “in the pandemic, we have now seen where our weaknesses are”.

“Overall, this is a comprehensive future package that will now take effect step by step,” emphasized Merkel. Due to the sound budget management of the past years, Germany is now “able to react decisively and courageously”. If the state did not provide the necessary impetus now, “then it could be that we will have to incur more debt later,” warned the Chancellor.

The Union and the SPD agreed on a package of measures worth 130 billion euros on Wednesday to overcome the consequences of the corona pandemic and at the same time drive forward a future-oriented restructuring of the economy.