德国总理弗里德里希·默茨周三对商界领袖表示，他的政府将逐步推进根本性经济改革。
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told business leaders Wednesday that his government would gradually press ahead with fundamental economic reforms.
“进行结构性改革的必要性很大，”默茨在柏林与“为德国制造”倡议的企业代表会面时说道。
“The need for structural reforms is great,” Merz said during a meeting in Berlin with business representatives from the “Made for Germany” initiative.
他补充说，联邦政府已经启动了一系列举措，但截至目前，这些举措尚未达到他们真正希望达到的状态。
The federal government has set a number of initiatives in motion, but they are not yet where they actually wanted them to be at this point in time, he added.
据德国新闻通讯社（dpa）报道，默茨表示，任何人都不应怀疑他继续逐步实施改革的“决心”。他以提高劳动力市场灵活性的努力为例。
Merz said that no one should doubt “my determination” to continue implementing reforms step by step, according to the German Press Agency (dpa). He cited as an example efforts to increase flexibility in the labor market.
“我们在这方面还有许多工作要做，”他说，并补充称，联盟委员会将在下周讨论此事，此外还需要跟进一整套劳动力市场法律。总理还提到深化欧盟单一市场以及德国计划中的养老金改革。
“We have some catching up to do there,” he said, adding this is to be discussed next week in the coalition committee, and a whole series of labor market laws still need to follow. The chancellor also referred to the deepening of the EU single market and planned pension reform in Germany.
然而，这项改革在联盟内部存在争议。默茨所在的联合执政伙伴社会民主党（SPD）希望讨论取消“缴费45年后即可领取全额养老金”的计划。使劳动力市场更灵活的举措同样存在争议。
This reform is controversial within the coalition, however. Merz’s junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), wants to discuss the planned abolition of the full pension after 45 years of contributions. Measures to make the labor market more flexible are also controversial.
默茨指出，经济研究机构上调了今年的经济预测。一个关键推动因素是政府通过债务融资的特别基金，投资数十亿用于基础设施现代化改造。他说，未来几年经济尚不能形成自我维持的上行趋势。
Merz pointed out that economic research institutes have raised their economic forecasts for this year. A key driver is the government’s investment of billions in infrastructure modernization through a debt-financed special fund. He said there is not yet a self-sustaining economic upswing for the coming years.
总理明确表示，德国在人工智能领域拥有巨大机遇，同时呼吁中小企业采取行动。“德国中小企业必须更好地利用自身的数据，”他说。
The chancellor made it clear that Germany has great opportunities in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) but at the same time issued an appeal to small and medium-sized enterprises. “Small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany must make better use of their data,” he said.
他说，如果这些企业能够开发这一数据宝库并加以利用，德国将拥有世界上最显著的竞争优势之一；他还补充称，世界上没有哪个国家像德国一样，拥有如此多元、层次丰富的工业中小企业体系。
If these businesses tap into this treasure trove of data and put it to use, Germany will have one of the greatest competitive advantages in the world, he said, adding that no other country in the world has such a diverse and deeply stratified industrial small-and medium business sector as Germany.