- election promises. pretty much all parties want to pour more money into infrastructure. investment in public infrastructure can also make sense if the government uses this to alleviate bottlenecks in a targeted manner. however, that should not be a carte blanche to run up new debt. not nearly all investments pay for themselves through increased growth alone. the spd and greens, in particular, simply want to raise taxes in order to fund the additional expenditure. would that be okay? there are two things i can say as an economist. first : those calling for new government expenditure should also show how it would be funded. at all events, in the past debt financing was relied on too often. second : rising expenditure tends to curtail growth, and all the more the higher the tax burden already is. this means that, when calls are made for new expenditure, existing spending has to be subjected to scrutiny. where do we need higher investment? there is no one - size - fits - all answer to that question. investment is not an end in itself ; each project needs to be examined individually in terms of its benefits for society. existing bottlenecks have to be alleviated in infrastructure, roads, railways and shipping lanes. the educational system in particular needs to be addressed ; in individual cases we are either living off our assets or setting the wrong emphasis. but there is certainly no nationwide investment bottleneck – the need for investment varies widely from region to region. we already redistribute large sums of money between federal states today. do we not need a sort of “ maastricht plus ” within germany – that is, to transfer greater responsibility for budgets to the cities and federal states? indeed we do need actors at all levels to bear independent responsibility for revenue and expenditure. but there is also a shared supraregional interest in certain tasks. moreover, binding corrective action should be taken earlier in future if federal states or municipalities slowly threaten to slide into distress from which they cannot extricate themselves. however, in principle we have more opportunities to push through rules in our federal system than at the european level. bis central bankers ’ speeches which makes us very pessimistic about europe. even the better opportunities for intervention here cannot prevent berlin or bremen from being kept more and more on life support. undoubtedly mistakes were made in the past. the debt brake, which will be binding on the federal states with effect from 2020, and the forthcoming federal structure reform in 2020 are therefore important

jens weidmann : “ a minimum wage has to be depoliticised ” interview by dr jens weidmann, president of the deutsche bundesbank, with jorg eigendorf and sebastian jost in welt am sonntag, published in german on 29 september 2013. * * * bundesbank president jens weidmann is known as a vocal critic of southern european policymaking. he is now also urging reforms in germany – although he has come to terms with some things jens weidmann has clearly shown that he is not averse to conflict. whenever the bundesbank president appears in any of the euro - area peripheral countries, he is always the stern uncle. “ more reforms ” is his mantra. it is therefore not without a sense of vindication that some politicians from southern europe will see that the former economic adviser to chancellor merkel is now also training his sights on his ex - colleagues in berlin. in his first interview since the elections to the bundestag, the 45 - year - old central banker did not discuss monetary policy in the narrower sense but talked about economic policy in the broadest sense. that was a first for weidmann : the bundesbank ’ s last major blueprint for reforms dates back ten years. mr weidmann, what parties did you vote for last sunday? the ballot is secret for good reasons, and i do not give recommendations prior to the election, nor do i discuss my decision after the fact. why do germans make such a big secret out of whom they vote for, unlike, say, americans? you are not asking me as a private citizen but as bundesbank president. the bundesbank is well advised, however, to steer clear of party politics. you ’ ve rankled some people in berlin by speaking out on economic policy, even though your actual mandate is to keep prices stable. do you really need any more enemies? that is not the point. we speak up in situations where monetary policy is affected. healthy public finances and sustainable growth are key preconditions for stable money. this is why we also point out problems facing germany – without, however, laying out a detailed agenda of reforms. but the bundesbank already did that once before, in 2003. germany was regarded at the time as the “ sick man ” of europe. it is now held as a model worldwide. if one looks at the 2003 proposals, though, not many have been implemented – apart from