No matter what the future debt brake may look like, public budgets must be consolidated qualitatively in order to maintain fiscal sustainability and the power to govern. This also means cutting out old habits. ‘That means action. We don't have a knowledge problem,’ states Michael Thöne in the Handelsblatt cover story on the reduction of subsidies and tax breaks. If everyone has to swallow bitter pills, it becomes politically easier and 20 billion euros or more can be generated each year. Tagesspiegel, Focus, The Pioneer and Welt (paywalls in some cases) also report on this.