BDI boss Russwurm has criticized Chancellor Scholz for his economic policy. The previous reign had been two lost years. The result is significantly slower growth than in comparable countries.
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, referring to the traffic light coalition’s previous government.
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 from the Greens and Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the FDP, Scholz (SPD) often only hears the quote “The lawsuit is the merchant’s song.”
“Continuously losing market share”
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.”
Russwurm called for an honest debate 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.
Russwurm said he didn’t like the large amounts of money being paid out to semiconductor companies around the world. “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.
Markus Sambale, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, April 3, 2024 7:31 a.m