At an event in April, Theodor Weimer, head of Deutsche Börse, gave an angry speech about German economic and migration policy, which he considers to be misguided
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Theodor Weimer, head of the German Stock Exchange, will step down from his position at the end of the year. Before then, he apparently feels the need to vent his anger at politics – in a way that is rarely seen or heard in public from business leaders.
At an event organized by the CSU-affiliated lobby association Wirtschaftsrat Bayern on April 17, the self-proclaimed “Mr. Dax” gave a speech in which he primarily attacked economic policy. One of these has been shared on X since Thursday, especially in right-wing populist circles, and was picked up by media outlets close to them, such as “Tichy’s Einblick” and “Junge Freiheit.”
Theodor Weimer: “It is a sheer catastrophe”
At the beginning of his speech, Weimer says he was full of enthusiasm for Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). Now he thinks: “It’s a sheer catastrophe.” He is referring to international investors with whom he repeatedly speaks about their view of Germany. They only invest because it is so cheap. “We have become a junk shop,” he claims. There is no economic compass. “In economic terms, we are on the way to becoming a developing country.”
In addition to economic policy, he also criticised the immigration policy of the traffic light coalition in his speech. From an economic point of view, skilled workers should be brought into the country and not people who “collect fifty percent of the citizens’ allowance and send it somewhere else”. What Weimer does not say: 65.6 percent of foreigners in Germany work. Among Germans, the figure is 77.2 percent. Weimer concludes: “Our focus on do-gooderism is not shared anywhere.”
Weimer positioned himself against AfD
In February, Weimer said he was “deeply concerned” about the rise of the right in Germany. “I don’t want to live in a country where the question of whether or not you are welcome here depends on where your grandparents were born,” he was quoted as saying by the British daily newspaper “Financial Times.” If right-wing parties like the AfD were successful, it would be fatal – also for Germany and Europe as important financial centers. He also said: “Our job is to defend freedom and democracy, and that also applies to business people.”
When asked by Capital, Weimer’s company, Deutsche Börse, reacted cautiously to his statements. “Theodor Weimer is a man of clear words. He is not known for sugarcoating things,” the company told Capital. “He has already expressed his assessments, which are largely based on discussions with international investors, on a variety of occasions.”
Weimer, known internally as “plain-spoken Weimer,” had already expressed similar views to those in his speech in Bavaria at the stock exchange’s New Year’s reception. However, he had refrained from using pointed formulations at the time.
Source: Stern
