A cold wind of change is set to blow across Europe

The German government's decision to reduce the size of the state is attracting considerable controversy. Most importantly, this policy seems to go against the commitment by the Social Democrats not to take money away from pensioners to fund cuts in company taxation, and it also breaks the implicit commitment that the state will reliably fund social services through the 21st century. Developments in Germany can be seen as a test case for the whole of continental Europe.