How have the European regulatory reforms adopted since the global financial crisis affected Germany’s financial sector? The Federal Ministry of Finance recently commissioned a report to find this out. The report, which was produced by the SAFE Research Center at Frankfurt University, found that the policy measures adopted at the European level are proving effective and are enhancing financial stability.

On 12 April 2019, Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz gave a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics on "The Transatlantic Partnership: Common Values in a Changing World". He underlined the importance of a strong and stable European Union side by side with a powerful but principled United States of America.

On 21 March, the Fintech Council convened for the first time with its new members at the German Ministry of Finance. The Council elected Christ Bartz as its new chair and adopted a position paper on regulating financial service providers’ use of cloud computing.

The AIIB has achieved major milestones since its launch as a new multilateral bank in 2016: The bank’s membership and project portfolio have grown. It is working together successfully with other multilateral banks. And the three leading rating agencies have awarded the bank top marks.

To mark the 150th anniversary of double taxation agreements, the 6th International Tax Symposium on 8 May 2019 will focus on recent challenges in the area of German and international tax treaty policy. Against the backdrop of increasingly automated and digital economies, discussions will be held on the question of whether traditional taxation approaches are still fit for purpose.

The Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection have jointly published a key-issues paper discussing the possible introduction of electronic securities and the regulation of public offers of certain crypto tokens. The paper forms part of efforts to strengthen Germany’s role as one of the world’s leading digital technology and fintech locations.

On 27 March 2019, German finance minister Olaf Scholz met Menno Snel, State Secretary for Finance at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. In a joint statement, the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to combating tax avoidance by agreeing and implementing the OECD and EU standards on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

The Finance Ministry – working together with the Environment Ministry and the Economic Affairs Ministry – has initiated proposals to establish a sustainable finance strategy. The government’s State Secretaries’ Committee for Sustainable Development has now decided that this strategy will be developed. The strategy will aim to make Germany a leading centre for sustainable finance.

In his speech at the Global Solutions Summit taking place in Berlin on 18 March 2019, German Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz endorsed an international minimum level of taxation to ensure that states are able to finance their public goods. He also called for a multilateral approach, arguing that global problems such as climate change or social inequality can only be tackled through international cooperation.

This year’s Annual Economic Report was adopted by the federal cabinet on 30 January 2019. The German economy is experiencing growth for the tenth year in a row. The German government’s economic and fiscal policies are still guided by the tenets of the social market economy. This article summarises the key points of the 2019 Annual Economic Report.

For our next Fiscal Policy Seminar on 7-8 October 2019, the Federal Ministry of Finance is once again looking for research papers that present new and innovative ideas. This year’s theme is: “Analysing developments in savings, investments and interest rates – reassessing the role of fiscal policies for growth and stabilisation”. We are now accepting submissions.

Ahead of his trip to the Iberian Peninsula, German Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave an interview to the Spanish newspaper El País and the Portuguese newspaper Expresso. He spoke about current European issues, underlining that it is not Germany’s role within the European Union to give advice to others. Instead, he affirmed that jointly-taken European decisions are what is needed to solve many of the urgent challenges.

The German Finance Ministry’s inaugural Fiscal Policy Seminar, entitled “Rethinking Market Discipline”, took place on 13 and 14 December 2018. The two-day event brought together experts from academia, central banks and government ministries to discuss the role that well-functioning and stable financial markets play in fostering sound fiscal policies. A Best Paper Award was presented during the seminar, with prize money of €5,000.

If, as expected, the United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union in March, the country will also leave the internal market and the customs union. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the UK will be treated as a third country, which will have a significant impact on the movement of goods between the UK and the EU. The German government and the German customs administration are carefully preparing for this scenario.

On 8 February 2019, German finance minister and vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a keynote speech at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He emphasised that Europe is stronger when it acts in concert and that it needs to strengthen its sovereignty as a global political actor in its own right so that it becomes impossible to play Europeans off against each other.

In an interview with the Financial Times, German finance minister and vice chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks about current issues. Focusing on the federal budget, he also outlines the prospects for Brexit. He emphasises the importance of a balanced budget without new debt whilst taking account of the need for “social cohesion” and the importance of the welfare state.

On 19 November 2018 the Federal Ministry of Finance hosted a conference that brought together selected experts from academia, the business community, civil society, public administration, journalism and professional associations. They engaged in a comprehensive discussion on what actions need to be taken and what options are available to ensure a smoothly functioning data economy.

Germany’s publicly owned consulting agency for the public sector celebrated its 10th anniversary on 11 November 2018. PD is the German public sector’s only in-house consulting agency that operates on a nationwide basis and at all levels of government. PD advises the public sector on projects aimed at (a) innovative and sustainable infrastructure and (b) the modernisation of administrative processes.

Germany and France have strengthened their cooperation with a new friendship treaty that was signed in the city of Aachen on 22 January 2019. One priority project on the new joint agenda is cooperation in the area of financial services and financial markets at the EU level, with the goal of working towards high regulatory standards, including in the area of sustainable finance.

The most recent German-Chinese financial dialogue was held in Beijing on 18 January 2019. Its main objective was to further deepen cooperation between Germany and China in the area of finance. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz conducted talks with Chinese government representatives, researchers and the central bank. The two countries concluded specific agreements to improve mutual market access.

The beginning of a new year is generally a time when regulatory changes are introduced that can impact citizens and companies in a number of ways. Here is an overview of the most important new developments in German tax law.

The Finance Ministry’s first Fiscal Policy Seminar took place in Berlin on 13-14 December 2018. The two-day event brought together experts from academia, central banks and government ministries – and hailing from a total of 14 countries – to discuss the role that stable financial markets play in fostering sound fiscal policies. This year’s Best Paper Award was presented to a group of four co-authors whose study showed that financial markets exert disciplinary effects on the actions that governments take.

How do people in Germany see Europe in their everyday lives? What role does the EU play for Germany? And what form should it take in future? The Finance Ministry is actively participating in the Citizens’ Dialogue on the Future of Europe taking place throughout Europe, enabling citizens to come together and discuss these and other questions. The federal government’s results have now been compiled in a report.

Our new category offers information on German legislation relating to external tax relations, especially transfer pricing. It provides working translations of a range of documents in the field of external tax relations legislation. These working translations are merely for informational purposes, only the German-language versions are authoritative for the application of the law.

On 28 November 2018, German finance minister and vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a keynote speech on Europe at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He highlighted the importance of telling people in Germany and in other European countries what kind of European Union we are working towards and exactly what steps need to be taken.

The Federal Ministry of Finance will be hosting its first Fiscal Policy Seminar on 13–14 December 2018. The goal of this seminar is to bring together academic public finance experts and Finance Ministry employees. This year, the theme is “Rethinking Market Discipline”. We welcome registrations from persons with an academic background and an interest in fiscal policy.