German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Wednesday that if unpopular planned social welfare cuts fail to boost the country's lagging economy, his government would amend the reforms. Schroeder stood by the government's plan, saying the government wouldn't back down on benefit cuts for the long-term unemployed before they have been introduced at the beginning of next year. "I believe we really need to take time to very carefully examine the effects . . . and to be ready to take corrective action if there are effects that the law didn't aim for," he told the lower house in the first parliamentary debate on the government's 2005 budget. But, he added, "to me, it's absolutely wrong to talk about changes to the reform beforehand."
