Chancellor Merz Announces Major Reform Package to Save German Economy

JAKARTA - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a major reform package to revive the country's economy amid job losses and rising costs for businesses.

"Our goal is to complete and present major reform proposals in the coming weeks and months. This will be a joint proposal with the federal government," Merz said when delivering a government statement to the German parliament, the Bundestag, ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels. reported by ANTARA from Sputnik, Thursday, June 11.

Merz said employment in Germany's industrial sector continued to shrink, while a number of companies were forced to close due to high operating costs and heavy bureaucratic burdens.

In his presentation, Merz also rejected new debt additions at the EU level. Excessive debt, according to him, can threaten sovereignty and limit the government's room for maneuver.

"Several European countries, due to their very large debt burden, are now spending more funds to pay interest on debt than on defense. We must not allow European budgets to reach such a condition," said Merz.

Despite warning of the risk of debt continuing to rise, Merz still supports EU financial assistance for Ukraine.

"In particular, a loan of 90 billion euros (about Rp1.8 trillion) from the European Union for Ukraine has been approved," he said.

Merz's statement triggered a reaction of rejection from a number of members of the Bundestag, who were heard to deliver cries and murmurs of disagreement in the courtroom.

Meanwhile, Politico media in May reported that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned the European Union of the risk of increasing public debt in member countries that could disrupt the bloc's economy.

According to the IMF document, if current policies are maintained, the average debt of European countries could reach 130 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2040, or about twice the current level.