Germans see little progress on cutting red tape

A survey published Saturday said two-thirds of Germans believe unnecessary bureaucracy has remained the same since the current government took office. 

Some said administrative burdens were even worse, despite a promise made last year by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's incoming government to slash red tape.

The coalition of Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) agreed to "a comprehensive rollback of bureaucracy" in its agreement last April.

What did the survey say?

The poll, conducted by YouGov found 66% of citizens said administrative burdens had remained the same since the current government took office, while 22% reported an increase.

Businesses reported limited improvement. Only 4% believed bureaucracy had decreased, with 8% unsure in the poll conducted for the European Center for Digital Competitiveness at the ESCP Business School in Berlin.

Among managers surveyed, 63% said bureaucracy had stayed the same, while 31% saw it increase and just 4% reported a decline. About half said they had delayed or canceled projects in the past year due to slow or complex administrative processes.

Respondents said the greatest need for digital improvement is in healthcare and local administrative offices, followed by tax services and construction approvals.

"People don't want more announcements; they want the state to finally just work," said Philip Meissner, founder of the Center for Digital Competitiveness at ESCP.

The center's co-founder Klaus Schweinsberg said the survey results showed that the Merz had "clearly failed" on the core issues for competitiveness: digitization and cutting bureaucracy.

Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez