Two-thirds of Germans believe unnecessary bureaucracy has remained the same since the current government came to power, a poll published Saturday said.
Some said that despite promises by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s incoming government last year to cut red tape, the administrative burden was even worse.
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 their pact last April.
What was said in the survey?
The survey conducted by YouGov found that 66% of citizens said the administrative burden has remained the same since the current government took charge, while 22% reported an increase.
Businesses reported limited improvement. The survey, conducted for the European Center for Digital Competitiveness at the ESCP Business School in Berlin, found only 4% believed there had been a reduction in bureaucracy, with 8% unsure.
Of the managers surveyed, 63% said bureaucracy had remained the same, while 31% saw an increase and only 4% reported a decline. Nearly half said they delayed or canceled projects last year because of slow or complicated administrative processes.
The respondents said the greatest need for digital reform was 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 act,” said Philipp Meissner, founder of the Center for Digital Competitiveness at ESCP.
Klaus Schweinsberg, co-founder of the centre, said the survey results showed Merz had “clearly failed” on the main issues of competition: digitalisation and cutting bureaucracy.
Edited by: Jennifer Cimino Gonzalez