Ljubljana

Agenda 2010, a package of reforms presented in the Bundestag exactly ten years ago by then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, divided Germany. For some it is the epitome of social imbalance, for others the foundation of the German “jobs miracle.”

Over 200,000 people in about 200 cities went on the streets at the climax of the wave of demonstrations against the “Hartz IV laws” in 2003 and 2004. The laws were considered by large parts of the population to be antisocial, unfair and of poor workmanship. The main point of criticism: no matter how long a person had already paid into unemployment insurance, if they lost their job they would be at “Hartz IV” level in one year. That means receiving 382 euros per month plus rent and heating.

Not only that, but the laws also generated absurd situations. When Thomas H. lost his job, after one year he was practically forced to move out of his new girlfriend’s flat. The 50-year-old, who had worked for years in a small printing house, felt morally obligated to do so, for “Hartz IV” would have made him and his girlfriend a “needs-based community,” and in such a community partners must be responsible for one another if they are not married. In the case of Thomas H. this meant that he would not have received a cent from the government as long as his girlfriend, who has three children, still had money in savings. Ultimately, Thomas H. would have had to live at the expense of children that were not his own. He therefore moved out and from then on cost the state not only “Hartz IV,” but also housing benefits.

The question of when a woman and a man become a “needs-based community” has since then repeatedly led to debates on how much the state should be permitted to sniff about in the bedrooms of its citizens. In most cases, these disputes are decided in court, just like many other “Hartz issues.” The consequence is that the social courts of Germany have had to supplement their staff due to the large number of lawsuits. In Berlin, for example, the number of judges was doubled.

In spite of all this, the reform is considered the key today to overcoming the economic crisis in many countries; even the former French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy thought it was exemplary. Why? Because in Germany, which was described as “Europe’s sick man” in 2003, the number of unemployed dropped from 4.86 to 2.85 million. But how much “Hartz” is behind the German jobs miracle? Ten years after the launch of Gerhard Schroeder’s Agenda 2010 there are shelves full of studies about the effects of these reforms. Some believe that they were a perhaps bitter but necessary medicine for the “sick man,” while others speak of “poison.” The number of unemployed may have dropped, but the number of precarious jobs has risen. Temp work was significantly expanded; according to the newspaper Handelsblatt the market for temporary jobs has tripled in the past ten years. The Confederation of German Trade Unions accuses the companies of misusing temporary jobs to lower costs.

One thing is certain: the surname of Peter Hartz, former board member of VW and the advisor of Gerhard Schroeder who gave the labour market reforms the name, has become a symbol of social decline in Germany.