Germany’s economy, the largest in Europe, contracted for the second year in a row in 2024, official data showed Wednesday, underscoring the challenges facing the region as it tries to get economic growth back on track.

“We need a major effort in this country to get things moving again,” Friedrich Merz, the chancellor candidate for the conservative Christian Democratic Union said over the weekend, as his party announced “Agenda 2030,” which pledges to return German growth to 2 percent over the next five years through changes to the welfare and tax systems.

Germany's economy contracted for the second consecutive year in 2024, highlighting the depth of the downturn gripping Europe's biggest economy.