Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has firmly dismissed proposals to abolish public holidays, stating he does not intend to engage in a discussion regarding such a measure. Responding to inquiries from the dts news agency on Friday, Merz emphasized the significant regional autonomy surrounding holiday observances.
“When you examine which public holidays could potentially be regulated uniformly at the federal level, the number is quite limited; most holidays are governed by the individual states” the Chancellor stated during a summer press conference. He likened the recurring debate to the mythical Loch Ness Monster, suggesting an enduring but ultimately elusive subject of discussion.
Merz also refuted claims that he had advocated for increased working hours for the entire population during the recent campaign period. “I never said that everyone must work more” he clarified. “What I said was that we, as a nation, need to achieve higher overall performance and I stand by that statement.
The proposal to eliminate a public holiday recently gained traction when Monika Schnitzer, head of the Council of Economic Experts and fellow council member Veronika Grimm suggested it as a potential measure during the presentation of the spring economic forecast in May.
According to calculations by the Institute for German Economy (IW), an additional working day could potentially contribute between €5 and €8.6 billion to Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP), representing roughly 0.2 percent of economic output. However, public opinion surveys indicate the measure is overwhelmingly unpopular.
