competitiveness
Bitkom: AfD position harms Germany’s digital economy
Bitkom expresses sharp criticism of the AfD’s positions on immigration. photo
© Daniel Karmann/dpa
More and more voices in business are speaking out that fear damage to Germany as a business location if the AfD prevails with its positions.
The digital association Bitkom has clearly distanced itself from the political positions of AfD distanced itself and warned of the effects of implementing AfD demands. Germany’s digital economy would be damaged and its international competitiveness massively burdened if the AfD’s program and the announcements of its representatives were translated into practical policy, according to a position paper by the association. Bitkom represents more than 2,200 companies from the digital economy in Germany that employ more than two million people.
Bitkom expressed sharp criticism of the AfD’s positions on immigration. Under the conditions of an AfD policy, the shortage of IT specialists would become massively worse. There are already 149,000 open positions in Germany that cannot be filled. This gap cannot be closed without immigration. “Almost 1.4 million people from all regions and countries work in Germany’s IT and telecommunications companies alone,” explained Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst. 180,000 people are of other nationalities, 70 percent come from outside the EU. “They are indispensable for digital Germany. Diversity makes us strong”
If Germany wants to keep pace with the leading innovation locations such as the USA and China, the best IT specialists in the world must be brought to Germany. Anyone who deters or deters these people is doing massive damage to the digital economy and ultimately to all companies that use digital technologies – and their workforces.
But the association does not only see irreconcilable differences of opinion with the AfD when it comes to immigration. The German digital economy is also particularly concerned about the AfD’s denial of man-made climate change.
The AfD’s positions on the issue of education also damaged the economy. In this context, the association pointed out that the party’s European election program explicitly opposed efforts to generally digitize teaching. Bitkom and its companies, on the other hand, stand for a modern education system, which of course includes digital teaching and learning methods. Schools have the task of comprehensively preparing young people for shaping our world and its challenges. “In the digital world, media literacy and digital skills are just as important as the classic school curriculum,” explained Bitkom President Wintergerst.
Bitkom also does not agree with the AfD’s demand for an exit from the EU. The EU internal market is one of the greatest achievements of European unification, alongside peace, freedom and stability. If you want to keep up with the leading and emerging digital locations such as the USA, China and, in the future, India, you will only be able to do so within the EU.
Before Bitkom, other business associations such as the Federation of German Industries (BDI) had already spoken out in favor of publicly opposing the AfD’s political demands.