BERLIN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that China builds cities faster than Germany approves a house, local media Bild reported.
Scholz made the remark at a discussion organized by the German think-tank Bertelsmann Stiftung this week when talking about reducing the country's bureaucracy.
He said three years was not enough in Germany to finish a house plan. "If you look at the speed at which cities have been built in China, we haven't approved any terraced houses (within the same time)."
Scholz urged the country to achieve "incredible acceleration" and not to just talk about it, noting that this could change a lot, including strengthening Germans' optimism for the future.
According to a survey by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, a large number of Germans are pessimistic, with only one in four people in the traditional middle class looking to the future with confidence. ■