“It was two lost years”
BDI President sharply criticizes Scholz
April 3, 2024, 5:14 a.m
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A shortage of skilled workers, weak economic growth: for the President of the Federation of German Industries, the situation in Germany looks dramatic. Accordingly, he draws a harsh conclusion for the traffic light coalition’s previous government period.
The President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Siegfried Russwurm, has sharply criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his handling of the economic situation in Germany. “It was two lost years – even if some of the decisions were made incorrectly beforehand,” he told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” with a view to the traffic light coalition’s previous government.
After a good two years in office, she remains an important discussion partner for the industry. However, the seriousness of the situation is apparently being underestimated in the Chancellery, said Russwurm. While the business associations are in regular discussions with Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Scholz often only hears the quote “The lawsuit is the businessman’s song.”
The result of the misguided policy is that “we are growing significantly more slowly than almost all comparable countries and many EU neighbors,” the BDI President continued. “That means: We are continually losing market share to them.”
Some industries will disappear from Germany
Russwurm called for an honest debate in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” about which industries Germany could and wanted to afford given the changed world situation – and under what conditions. “If strategic sovereignty is important to us, we have to accept that it also comes at a price and accept the higher costs,” he said. Then subsidies are justifiable in individual cases.
However, he did not like the large sums that were being paid out to semiconductor companies worldwide, said the BDI president. “But if Germany is the only upright person who refuses to play, then we will not only be left with nothing in terms of factories, but we will also lose extremely important know-how.” But it is also clear that some industries will disappear from Germany in the medium term. Russwurm cited ammonia production as an example.