Three weeks after they sat down to negotiate a coalition agreement, the partners in Germany’s new government have come up with a programme. It has not been easy, because there is little room for manoeuvre and no cash to spare for election promises. So it is long on words and short on big initiatives, which is no bad thing in the circumstances.

“We’re going for growth,” said Angela Merkel, the chancellor, when she presented the deal on Saturday morning. Tax cuts totalling €24bn a year by 2011 will top the agenda, in a brave bid to revive consumer spending and encourage investment. The bitter medicine of spending cuts will certainly come later.