The dearth of decoration in Hans Eichel's office reflects a government preparing to leave for Berlin and the fact that Germany's new finance minister is barely five weeks into the job. But the ice-cold walls may also say something about a man better known for his precision of thought than his policies.

Mr Eichel, who took responsibility for steering Europe's biggest economy last month, could hardly present a bigger contrast to Oskar Lafontaine, his fiery predecessor, who resigned less than six months after taking office. Where Mr Lafontaine was doctrinaire and flamboyant, his successor is pragmatic and considered. Mr Eichel's emphasis is on consultation and painstaking preparation, rather than the immediate - and sometimes intemperate - action that prompted the storm of criticism contributing to Mr Lafontaine's departure.

The gulf between the two men seems surprising given their apparent similarities. Both began on the left wing of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), coming up through local and regional politics. Mr Eichel was mayor of Kassel before becoming premier of Hesse in 1991. Mr Lafontaine was his opposite number in the smaller Saarland.

The similarities end there, though. Like Mr Lafontaine, Mr Eichel believes growth requires a balance between the supply and demand sides of the economy. But by contrast, he has not demanded inflationary wage rises to lift Germany's laggard economy out of the doldrums by boosting consumption.

While Mr Lafontaine's priority appeared to be the creation of a new world economic order, Mr Eichel's focus is closer to home. For the moment, he ducks questions on big international issues, such as supervising financial markets or target zones for currencies, on the grounds that he is still new to the job.

Sorting out Germany's budget deficit is his self-declared mission. Germany, he says, has built up a "debt mountain" through the 1980s, which received a decisive boost after reunification.

"Interest payments now account for 22 per cent of government spending, compared with 12 per cent in 1982. That's the second biggest item after social security. There was a lot of silence about this whole thing. Everybody acted as if we didn't have a problem."

Yet Mr Eichel recognises that the deficit cannot be surmounted without tackling other, almost equally intractable, fiscal issues. By July he hopes to put a package of proposals to the cabinet. This will include next year's budget and the medium-term outlook to 2003, and plans for reforming corporate taxation. There will also be proposals for dealing with a decision by the Constitutional Court - Germany's highest tribunal - that has seriously upset private income tax calculations by calling for a hugely expensive revision of childcare allowances.

Mr Eichel declines to be drawn on the specifics. But he has already signalled the outcome will entail severe belt tightening for every corner of the economy.

He denies that such measures, almost certain to include social security cuts, will be blocked by leftwingers in the SPD, the senior partner in the Red-Green coalition of Social Democrats and environmentalist Greens in Bonn. "At the end of the day we don't have much choice. There's not much flexibility."

Mr Eichel's remedy is not just cutting expenditure, but also reversing the presentational problems that bedevilled the new government's first few months, putting business confidence on a better footing. "We can't just do it through savings. We also have to boost growth."

Unlike Mr Lafontaine, his method is not to lecture the Bundesbank and the European Central Bank to cut interest rates. Instead, he stresses the importance of the right "psychology" in presenting policies and dealing with business.

Mr Eichel's appointment has already won praise from bank economists, who see him as a safe pair of hands compared with his unpredictable predecessor. The finance minister underpins that image by emphasising his experience as premier of Hesse, Germany's financial stronghold. Although a leftwinger at the start, analysts note that his policies became increasingly pragmatic as he climbed the political ladder.

His familiarity with the Bundesbank should help in creating a new mood. Last week the government confirmed Ernst Welteke, president of Hesse's central bank, as the new Bundesbank president from September. Before moving to banking, Mr Welteke was Hesse's finance minister, working closely with Mr Eichel. Such familiarity suggests the explosive confrontations that marked Mr Lafontaine's short term are unlikely to recur.

"I developed a lot of contacts with business and I want to keep these up. I think it's very important."

Mr Eichel's business-friendly outlook has already made itself felt in the resignations of Heiner Flassbeck and Claus Noe, the top finance ministry officials hand-picked by Mr Lafontaine to reflect his views. Their replacements have, by contrast, been warmly welcomed by business. Caio Koch-Weser, a managing director of the World Bank, will take over the top international job in the ministry, while the vacant domestic role will be taken by Heribert Zitzelsberger, head of the tax department at the Bayer chemicals group.

Taking the sting out of relations with business will not, he admits, be enough to persuade companies to invest and boost the economy. "But I think a solid, consistent financial policy is essential to win the confidence of business."

Mr Eichel's willingness to exchange views has already been reflected in his response to the special corporate tax reform committee, created by his predecessor. This month it proposed ideas to lower headline corporate tax rates to more internationally competitive levels, while broadening the tax base by abolishing many of the breaks enjoyed by German companies.

But the experts stressed the scale of modernising Germany's notoriously complicated company tax rules by indicating the reforms could not take place by the January 1st 2000 deadline proposed by Gerhard Schroder, the chancellor. The new goal of January 1st 2001 remains "ambitious, as the committee itself has said", notes Mr Eichel.

He, at any rate, intends to stick around to see it through. "I'm not expecting to leave after five months," he says, in almost his only less-than-complimentary comment on his predecessor.