(Speech in the German Federal Parliament on March 24, 1955)

The 'bill to make restrictions on competition illegal' had not been
passed in the first legislative period of the German Federal Par-
liament between 1949 and 1953. After considerable resistance had
been overcome both inside and outside Parliament, it had its first
reading in the Federal Parliament on March 24, 1955.

In its second term of office the Federal Government presented a bill
to make restrictions on competition illegal. It was put forward in
its original form of June, 1952, when the first Federal Parliament
had discussed it in Committee. The version now before you was
drawn up on January 22, 1955, and contains some of the revisions
suggested by the Upper House. They are substantially the same as
those put forward by the Economic Committee in the last Parlia-
ment. It is not my intention in the first reading to state my views
either on the bill as a whole or on individual paragraphs. It seems
to me much more important to outline once again the basic idea
behind this bill and to explain its social and economic origins.

I see in the Social Market Economy system the economic basis
for a democratic form of government, which regards human
freedom as an inalienable right. It follows, therefore, almost as a
matter of course, that a market economy system must centre round
the principle of freedom and liberalism, and in consequence the
state has a duty to see to it that this basic right is not made in-
operative by private collective agreements and obligations.

The harmony of a market economy rests upon the free play of
forces which cancel one another out and balance one another up.
In this way a quantitative and qualitative harmony is achieved
between demand and supply. Whereas in other systems collective

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