Merz’s war on the sick note

From sick leave to part-time work, Germany’s chancellor is reviving an old debate about effort, entitlement and decline.

Dear Reader,

Learn German with Friedrich Merz and you will quickly acquire a particular vocabulary. Phrases such as „die Ärmel hochkrempeln und anpacken“ — roll up your sleeves and get stuck in — or the insistence that „Arbeit kann auch Spaß machen“: work can be fun.

Merz is convinced that a collapse in Germans’ work ethic lies at the heart of the country…