The bureaucracy in Germany is growing and growing. The traffic light government had promised to solve the problem. But she doesn’t seem to be really trying.
Bureaucracy is one of the biggest problems in the Federal Republic. In September, Olaf Scholz and his traffic light partners approved a fourth law to provide relief. But that’s apparently not enough. In the past ten years, civil servant positions in ministries and the federal government have almost doubled, shows a study by the University of Freiburg on behalf of the Bavarian Economic Association, which was initially reported. Accordingly, there are 7,000 additional jobs that were initially created under Angela Merkel’s grand coalition and, since 2021, under Olaf Scholz and the traffic light government.
Most of the positions were created in the upper salary groups, which means more staff in the management levels of the ministries. The Federal Chancellery recorded the largest increase, followed by the Ministry of Construction. During the corona pandemic, the Ministry of Health also benefited from the increase in staff. Although his special task has ended after the pandemic, the job expansion is still continuing.
With the new positions, personnel costs also exploded: in 2013, the positions cost three billion euros. Since then, according to the calculations, they have doubled and have therefore increased significantly more than the gross domestic product. For 2030, the scientists expect an additional 6.3 billion euros and by 2040 a further 11.6 billion euros could be added – not including pension costs.
Most of the additional positions were created during the Merkel era. The traffic light government, on the other hand, managed to reduce the number of positions in the middle salary group.
Germany’s bureaucracy problem remains
Economists and industry experts criticize the increase in bureaucracy. According to financial scientist Bernd Raffelhüschen, the fact that the civil service has grown so much has fatal consequences. “More civil servants in federal ministries create more regulation,” explains the researcher from the University of Freiburg, who was himself involved in the study. The newly created positions served primarily to create new legal requirements.
Vbw boss Bertram Brossardt from the housing company in Bochum complained to “Welt” that more employees in the ministries would force more bureaucratic hurdles on companies. He called for “an immediate job brake in the federal government” and advocated not filling vacant civil service positions. According to calculations by the German Civil Service Association, this will be 30 percent of the jobs in the next ten years.
However, the traffic light government is not thinking about it. According to the study, the draft for the 2025 federal budget provides for almost 160 additional civil servant positions.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
