Günter Althaus, President of the Bundesverband Kooperierender Mittelstand (BKM) and CEO of Reformhaus eG, commented on the agreement reached by the coalition leaders on a comprehensive reform package as a necessary sign of political ability to act. He emphasised that the economic impact of each individual measure was crucial to put Germany back on a sustainable growth path.
Reform Courage in Bureaucracy Reduction and Data Protection
Althaus highlighted that the coalition is demonstrating genuine reform courage in bureaucracy reduction and data protection, which are core concerns of the SME association. The introduction of a four-week approval fiction as a general rule in administrative procedure law, a long-standing demand of the BKM, now creates planning certainty for small and medium-sized enterprises, as applications will automatically be deemed approved in the future. Furthermore, the planned reversal of the burden of proof in the Report Relief Act, which generally eliminates state reporting obligations, is to be regarded as a correct step.
In the area of data protection, the BKM sees a crucial opportunity. The German government has succeeded in gaining more time for deeper discussions on the Digital Omnibus, after the EU Council originally intended to put its negotiating position to a vote. The German government must use this opportunity to legally enshrine the promised simplifications and exceptions to the GDPR for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in European law. The associated national centralisation of data protection supervisory structures at the federal level is logical and also corresponds to an old demand of the association.
The BKM economic survey for the first half of 2026 underlines the necessity of these measures. According to the survey, 87 per cent of the interviewed group purchasing organisations view the effective implementation of reforms with scepticism. Given shrinking revenues for half of the respondents, 55 per cent cited the high bureaucratic burden and 38 per cent the excessive tax and levy burden as the biggest obstacles for Germany as a business location. 53 group purchasing organisation headquarters with approximately 50,000 affiliated companies participated in this survey.
Tax Relief and Labour Market Policy
Althaus positively assessed the coalition partners' intention to fully implement the recommendations of the old-age provision commission in a legislative package by the end of 2026, even if this initially means additional costs for employers due to higher pension insurance contributions. He emphasised the importance of tax relief for a broad mass of taxpayers. Flattening the income tax tariff and shifting the key values up to the top tax rate by 1 January 2027 are considered a correct step to reduce fiscal drag and strengthen private purchasing power. The staggered increase of the wealth tax from EUR 280,000 to 47 per cent for offsetting purposes is fiscally acceptable, but affects sole proprietorships and partnerships among SMEs. Overall, the tax relief is assessed as too moderate to cushion the increase in social security contributions. The decision not to raise VAT, however, was welcomed, as this would have negatively impacted domestic consumption.
The BKM President also positively evaluated the measures to stimulate the labour market, increase employment, and stabilise contributions to unemployment insurance. These include fixed-term employment without objective justification for up to 48 months for new employment relationships and easier termination of employment contracts for high earners. However, Althaus criticised the lack of a final decision on working time flexibility and called on the German government to fulfil the promise from the coalition agreement to switch from a daily to a weekly maximum working time. The association appealed to the coalition partners to follow up on this to enable a real breakthrough. The German government's overall package addresses the right levers, but bureaucracy reduction and income tax reform must be implemented quickly to effectively cushion the short-term additional burdens of the impending pension reform for businesses.
