riting about the European economy is often a depressing experience, for the simple fact that for the most part the European economy is—yes—a depressing experience.
Fortunately, there are some bright spots on the European map. One of them is gaining strength in Germany, where a promising debate is emerging about the country’s most pressing fiscal and economic problem: the welfare state.
On February 10th, Welt reported on a new opinion poll where a whopping two-thirds of all respondents believe that Germany can no longer afford its welfare state:
According to a Forsa opinion poll, almost two-thirds of the German people are of the opinion that the welfare state can no longer be funded. In the representative survey … 64 percent took this position; 34 percent disagreed.
The Welt article sees this result as an echo of what Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said last summer. This is an interesting shift in public opinion; potentially, it represents a tectonic shift from solid public support for widespread economic redistribution to a more conservative take on the government’s role in the economy.
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