Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition has announced that from January workers will no longer be able to obtain a sick note by telephone and must consult a doctor in person from the first day of illness, ending a pandemic-era flexibility. The measure is part of a broader package of health and social-security cuts designed to address what Merz calls a “competitive disadvantage” from rising absenteeism. Official data show German employees now average 19.5 sick days per year, up from 13 in 2018, though researchers attribute much of the increase to the 2023 introduction of an electronic sick-note system that improved recording rather than to a genuine surge in illness.

Health economists at the Nuremberg-based Institute for Employment Research point out that available studies indicate telephone certification did not cause absenteeism to rise, while it did relieve pressure on doctors’ surgeries, patients and insurers. The new requirement, they warn, will generate unnecessary administrative burdens for medical practices and employees alike. The reform is scheduled for a final Bundestag vote on Friday morning, but the opposition Greens are blocking swift passage, arguing that 278 pages of last-minute amendments received overnight on 5 July cannot be scrutinised properly. The procedural standoff echoes the 2023 heating-law dispute, when the then-opposition CDU successfully petitioned the constitutional court to delay a vote.

In a parallel legislative push, the government plans to restrict the 2006 Freedom of Information Act so that only German or EU citizens who demonstrate a “legitimate interest” may access official documents. An open letter signed by 110 media advocacy groups and NGOs warns that the change would deny journalists and civil-society organisations a key tool against corruption and abuse of power, weakening public oversight and trust in politics. The government argues the reform is needed to cut bureaucracy and protect sensitive information on critical infrastructure. Viewed from Berlin, the two initiatives reinforce a perception of an executive that is closing ranks: the chancellor recently told critics to “step aside”, and senior politicians have increasingly used criminal complaints to pursue citizens for online insults.

Should the health reform clear the Bundestag before the summer recess, attention will shift to its implementation and to the parliamentary timetable for the freedom-of-information bill. The immediate milestone is Friday’s scheduled vote, where the Greens’ procedural challenge may yet force a delay that pushes the debate into the autumn.