More speed in road and rail construction

The cabinet wants to approve the draft for an Infrastructure Future Act. Projects such as the construction of important railways, motorways, bridges and waterways are to be in the overriding public interest in future and treated as a priority - not only in the event of bottlenecks. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks of a "real leap in quality". The law "enables us to significantly speed up and streamline procedures. Infrastructures can be built faster," emphasises the Chancellor.

Priority would also be given to new road construction projects that are in further demand in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan - insofar as they are of military relevance. According to Federal Chancellor Merz, all administrative procedures in this context will follow the "digital only" principle. This means that there should be a uniform digitalisation standard for the participation processes.

Rethinking nature conservation

The Chancellor also pointed out the dilemma between nature conservation and the need to renew the infrastructure. "Nature conservation remains important, but it can no longer block urgently needed measures through endless procedures," said Merz. The problem will be balanced out by compensation areas. Another provision of the planned law provides for faster progress to be made with the electrification of railway lines in future. For routes of less than 60 kilometres, the environmental impact assessment is to be omitted.

Expansion of private pension provision

The Federal Government is also planning to expand private pension provision more strongly. Private savers should benefit more from the potential returns offered by the capital market. In order to support young people in particular, the state subsidy for personal contributions to tax-incentivised private pension schemes is to be increased. The Early Start Pension (Frühstart-Rente) is intended to enable as many children and young people as possible to save up their first capital before the age of 18 by means of a monthly state premium.

Law on building modernisation

The Heating Act is to be replaced by the Building Modernisation Act. The key points for this are to be developed immediately. The cabinet can then decide on a new draft bill in the spring and submit it to the parliamentary process.

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