The German economy, once a model of solidity and ordoliberal principles, is changing before our eyes into a patient connected to a gigantic state IV drip. According to the Walter Eucken Institute report, in 2026 the sum of subsidies and public aid at the federal level will reach the astronomical figure of 321.3 billion euros. This is an absolute record, which should arouse terror, not calm.
The state, instead of taking care of the legal framework and fair competition — as the father of the "German miracle," Walter Eucken, wanted — has begun to pump billions into an economy which, despite this colossal doping, barely wheezes. The fact that with such great pumping of money GDP growth oscillates around zero is testimony to the tragic state of the system. This is no longer an intervention for crisis time, as during the pandemic, but a permanent element of the landscape, from which there is no turning back without provoking a powerful shock.
The problem is that German entrepreneurs have ceased to be producers and have become "grant hunters." Instead of focusing on innovation, quality of services, and the fight for markets, companies bog down in a thicket of subsidies, devoting their energy to political "fixing."
The transparency of these processes is fading, and billions flow in a wide stream both at the federal and state level — often without consultation with Brussels, as in the case of 80 million euros for chemical plants in Saxony-Anhalt. This is the demoralization of business in its purest form. Subsidies have become "props" which, instead of strengthening, addict, creating a system in which the withdrawal of state support threatens the immediate collapse of entire industries.
The greatest drama, however, is unfolding in the energy sector. Gigantic funds allocated to the so-called Energiewende are going down the drain, while Germans pay some of the highest rates for energy in the world. Instead of solving real structural problems, such as for example the lack of refining capacities, the government silences social discontent with ad hoc scraps, such as two-month reductions in fuel tax.
This is classic buying of peace with money that does not exist, without any serious economic analysis. If someone finally hits the brake and turns off this tap of billions, Germany faces a brutal collision with reality. Today's alleged stability is merely an illusion sustained by debt, which is tightening more and more strongly around the necks of future generations.
