In the budget debate of 6 September 2023, Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered the sixteen state premiers and the opposition leader Friedrich Merz a Deutschland-Pakt, a pact for Germany. Its purpose, he said, was to den Mehltau aus Bürokratismus, Risikoscheu und Verzagtheit abschütteln, shake off the mildew of bureaucracy, fear of risk and timidity. He called for Tempo statt Stillstand, Handeln statt Aussitzen, speed instead of standstill, action instead of waiting things out. One of his examples was concrete: „Schneller“ heißt, dass alle 16 Länder bis Ende des Jahres Bauanträge auch digital annehmen. (Faster means that all sixteen states accept building applications digitally as well by the end of the year.)