Social Policies in Germany. Assessment of the “Traffic Light” Coalition and Prospects for the New Government

Notes du Cerfa, No. 188, Ifri, July 2025 — The defeat of the “traffic light” governing coalition in the snap parliamentary elections of February 2025 calls for an initial – necessarily selective – assessment of the social policies implemented during its term.

The reforms undertaken in this area – both their substance and their limitations – reflect the political tensions and internal power dynamics of this heterogeneous alliance. The management of the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine serves as a central starting point. The responses to this crisis deepened fiscal imbalances, hastening the coalition’s collapse in the autumn of 2024. Against this backdrop, several major social reforms deserve particular attention: the increase in the minimum wage, developments in support for the long-term unemployed, and adjustments to the pension and long-term care systems in the context of a rapidly ageing population.
Arnaud Lechevalier is a senior lecturer at Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne University, where he teaches economics and sociology, and a researcher at the LISE Laboratory (Laboratoire interdisciplinaire pour la sociologie économique - UMR CNAM-CNRS). For several years, he was visiting professor at the Viadrina European University in Frankfurt (Oder).
- This publication is available in French (PDF): « Les politiques sociales en Allemagne. Bilan de la coalition “feu tricolore” et perspectives du nouveau gouvernement ».
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