Christian Lindner announces reform of start-up investments

This is his response to an incendiary letter from more than a dozen founders.

In a letter, Christian Lindner holds out the prospect of reforming employee share ownership, among other things. This is reported by the Handelsblatt. This is his response to the appeal of more than a dozen founders who addressed the Federal Minister of Finance at the beginning of the week. Their criticism was that the traffic light coalition was only protecting established industries and companies.

One of the concrete demands from the founders' fire letter was a new regulation for employee shareholdings. The issue is the tax burden on shareholdings without an immediate cash flow. Employees in Germany are not allowed to sell their shares before a startup goes public or is sold. In the letter quoted by Handelsblatt, Lindner announces that he will present key points for an amendment to this law "in the short term." He does not give a specific date.

Other demands from the start-up scene include faster visa procedures for foreign specialists, more growth capital, a reform of pension schemes and, in general, greater commitment from the German government. According to Linder, many of the points are to be implemented in an announced Future Financing Act. Here, in addition to the demands, the Federal Minister of Finance also promises easier access to the capital market for start-ups, as well as for small and medium-sized enterprises.